Readers write: Letters to the editor, August 20, 2016

Hunting makes bears aware

I have little interest in arguing with "anti's" (David Ellison, Aug. 16 letter).

My focus is to provide ideas and information for all those others who haven't thought about this or made up their minds.

There is good evidence that adverse brown bear encounters can be reduced by increasing bear hunting levels to the point where brown bears learn that humans are dangerous and to be avoided. If ever such a brown bear management program should be considered, it's immediately adjacent to the largest city in Alaska.

— Jim Lieb
Palmer

Lieb’s statements mislead

I have a few observations to share in response to Jim Lieb's "rebuttal" (Aug. 15) of my Aug. 10 brown bear commentary. In his own original (Aug. 7) opinion piece, Lieb referred specifically to an Anchorage-area brown bear hunt. Now he has expanded his "data base" to include the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island, perhaps because it better suits his argument. In fact, it's no surprise that the combined Anchorage-Kenai Peninsula-Kodiak area has a high percentage of total statewide attacks, because many more people share the landscape with bears and are recreating in "bear country." At the same time, that doesn't necessarily translate to a higher chance of being attacked, especially if you follow bear-aware guidelines.

Second and more important, Lieb's use of the 2010 Department of Fish and Game survey of Anchorage-area residents to gauge attitudes toward bears and moose is at best misleading; also, he ignores some findings that contradict his own stance.

For example, he notes one finding to be that "a large majority of residents (78 percent) never want to see a brown bear." What he forgets to mention is that this survey question referred specifically to respondents' neighborhoods, not the municipality's parks or other natural areas, or neighboring Chugach State Park.

In fact, 63 percent of respondents indicated it would be acceptable to have brown bears in Far North Bicentennial Park (despite recent maulings that occurred there), while 26 percent found it unacceptable. Meanwhile a whopping 82 percent of respondents found it acceptable to have brown bears in Chugach State Park, suggesting there would be intense opposition to any notion of a "brown bear-free" Chugach State Park, as Lieb suggested in his original commentary. In short, while most Anchorage residents understandably don't want brown bears wandering through their neighborhoods — a rarity in most of the city — a great majority accept their presence in the municipality's wilder areas and especially in Chugach State Park.

A couple other points are worthy of note: 86 percent of respondents agreed that "While some wildlife encounters can be dangerous, they (wildlife) make life in Anchorage more interesting and special." To the question "In your opinion, should the brown bear population in the Anchorage area be increased, remain the same, or be decreased?" 59 percent said increase or stay the same; only 31 percent said decrease. Significantly, 89 percent agreed that "most problems with bears, including black bears and brown bears, in the Anchorage area can be prevented by taking a few simple precautions, such as using bear-proof garbage containers." Also noteworthy is that park and trail users — the ones most likely to encounter brown bears — were much more tolerant than those who rarely or never use parks.

Those who wish to see the entire report can go online at: www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/species/livingwithwildlife/bears/pdfs/moose_bear_report_2009.pdf.

I suppose I should thank Lieb for his recent writings about brown bears in the Anchorage area and Chugach State Park, because in returning to the 2010 survey, I've been reminded that most local residents are remarkably accepting of brown (and black) bears; certainly they're much more tolerant than Lieb himself.

— Bill Sherwonit
Anchorage

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