Opinions

No need for a brown bear hunt in the Anchorage area

As a longtime resident of Anchorage, I don't qualify as one of those "Lower 48 wildlife preservationists" whom Jim Lieb references in his recent ADN commentary (Aug. 7). But I am among the many locals who would staunchly oppose a "brown bear-free Chugach State Park." I'm also likely one of many to wonder: "What the heck sparked this piece of bear-scare writing?"

I was both baffled and disturbed by Lieb's commentary, which is filled with misleading statements, unsubstantiated claims, and assertions that are just plain wrong. But I realized he's provided an opportunity to address what might be some common misgivings and misunderstandings.

At first glance — and as the headline suggests — Lieb's call for a new "brown bear hunting program" in Chugach State Park and the rest of Unit 14C is to make these places safer for people who venture into the wilds. But he offers no statistics to back his claim that the park and larger Anchorage area have "one of the highest percent of brown bear attacks in the state." Actually, that statement makes no sense. Highest percent based on what criteria?

Lieb suggests brown bear attacks are common here, or at least more common than elsewhere in Alaska. But he doesn't give us any statistics to support his claim. I've been trying to figure out what spurred his interest in protecting people from local brown bears. People have been attacked by brown or grizzly bears this year at Denali National Park and in Southeast and on the Kenai Peninsula. But in Anchorage or Chugach park? Nothing that I can find.

It turns out that two recent (and widely respected) Anchorage area management biologists, Rick Sinnott and Jessy Coltrane, have compiled a list of brown bear maulings in the municipality that stretches from 1908 through 2015. They found only three prior to 1990.

Over the past quarter century (1991-2016), when local outdoor recreation has boomed and we humans have increasingly encroached into bear habitat, Sinnott and Coltrane were able to document 21 maulings that resulted in 19 injuries and two deaths; 14 of those (including the deaths) occurred in Chugach State Park. That's less than one per year. It's true maulings — which include any bear attack that results in human injury, no matter how minor — have increased over the past five years, with eight reported. But in 2013, 2015 and so far 2016, no maulings have been recorded. In short, there's nothing to suggest a current spike in bear attacks or increased danger.

What has changed is more and more people are recreating in the Chugach and municipal parklands, often in riskier ways, for instance biking on single-track trails and running on forest paths with limited visibility, sometimes near salmon-spawning streams known to attract brown bears. It's telling that 11 of the 21 maulings documented since 1991 have occurred within 100 yards of salmon streams.

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Considering the foolish things people do — another example would be paying more attention to music streaming into their ears than their surroundings — I'm amazed there aren't more sudden, close encounters with bears. That's the real danger: surprising a bear at close quarters, when the animal may feel threatened.

But maybe all of that is missing the point. The primary intent of Lieb's commentary is to make the case for yet another bear hunt, this one in the Anchorage area. To do so, he has to exaggerate — or worse, misinterpret — "bear aware" guidelines intended to minimize close encounters with bears and the likelihood of an attack.

Lieb argues such guidelines imply we humans "must live in fear" of bears. That's absolute bunk. In fact the opposite is true. Far from attempting to scare anyone, they are intended to educate people who want to safely spend time in bear country.

Lieb also suggests coexisting with bears requires people to enter the backcountry "with extreme trepidation." That's another outdated and incorrect conclusion, but one that serves his argument for a brown bear-free zone. It turns out Lieb isn't worried simply about public safety, but even the possibility of a bear encounter; no matter that the vast majority of encounters end without harm to either human or bear, as Lieb himself has experienced.

Shouldn't there be places, he asks, where Alaskans can go and not have to worry about bears, especially browns/grizzlies? And what better place than the Anchorage/Chugach area near his home? Ultimately Lieb recognizes that such a brown-bear free zone is "unlikely to happen," though he would lay the blame on "Lower 48 wildlife preservationists." The truth is, local opposition would be key to preventing such a ridiculous, awful thing from happening. Unlike Lieb, I'm among those who believe that the presence of brown and black bears enhances my trips into the Chugach and other wildlands; many of us also value their presence in Anchorage.

You don't have to take my word for that. As Sinnott and Coltrane report in their jointly written article: "Brown bear and human recreational use of trails in Anchorage, Alaska" (published in the scientific journal "Human-Wildlife Interactions" in 2015), a study conducted for the state in 2010 found that "most Anchorage residents appreciate bears in and near the city and are tolerant of them in large city parks and even neighborhoods."

I'm guessing Lieb has proposed a brown bear-free park because it makes his final suggestion seem more palatable: a new "brown bear hunting program" that would kill 10 percent of the local population every year.

A big part of Lieb's argument is that hunting "teaches bears to avoid humans." Yet there's plenty of evidence, reported by numerous bear researchers, that bears naturally tend to steer clear of humans. Sinnott and Coltrane note this fact in their published scientific paper. Simply put, "Brown bears tend to avoid people when possible." (They cite three previous studies to support the statement.)

Contrary to Lieb's arguments, a new hunt isn't what's needed to lessen and even minimize bear encounters and the rare brown bear attack. Despite his cynical interpretation, common sense and attention to "bear aware" guidelines are key to peacefully coexisting with bears. If we appreciate and respect the animals, and wish to have them in our world, there's no reason to "live in fear" or enter any park or other wild area with "extreme trepidation."

In my experience (and there are bundles of evidence to back this up) brown bears are far more tolerant of us than we humans are of them. Lieb, I'd argue, offers more evidence of this simple, sad truth.

Anchorage nature writer Bill Sherwonit is the author of more than a dozen books, including the newly revised and updated "Alaska's Bears: Grizzlies, Black Bears, and Polar Bears."

The views expressed here are the writer's and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.

Bill Sherwonit

Anchorage nature writer Bill Sherwonit is the author of more than a dozen books, including "Alaska's Bears" and "Animal Stories: Encounters with Alaska's Wildlife."

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