Bear and people conflicts

Summer is here, along with all the fun and joy of summertime in the Flathead. With dozens of lakes, many rivers and almost endless public lands open to hiking, camping, fishing and other forms of outdoor recreation, we seem to have endless opportunities for outdoor fun and relaxation.

But along with these many types of outdoor recreation opportunities, there are some cautions that must be remembered. First and foremost is the need to be bear aware. 

The Flathead Valley is situated on the west flank of the Northern Continental Divide Grizzly Bear Ecosystem which has some of the densest populations of grizzly bear populations in the contiguous 48 states. 

I always find it almost amusing when I get my property tax bill. A substantial amount of my annual property tax bill goes to funding the local police and sheriff’s offices. These public law enforcement agencies do a very good job of protecting the public from two legged predators. 

On the other hand, other public agencies such as Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service use taxpayer money to increase the number of bears, especially grizzly bears, which can and do injure and kill humans every year.  

Now, don’t think I am anti-grizzly bears. Grizzlies are really magnificent animals. I am glad we have grizzlies in Montana. But saying that, I don’t want any grizzlies in my backyard or the Flathead Valley.

Yet, when I read Montana’s grizzly bear management plan, there seems to be little bear management effort made to keep grizzly bears out of the Flathead Valley. In fact, in order to augment the low grizzly population in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, biologists want to encourage surplus bears from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to migrate westward, across the Flathead Valley, to help repopulate the low grizzly population in the Cabinet-Yaak. That sounds great until you think about the 125,000 people living in the Flathead and our annual influx of 4 million visitors.  

The Flathead is a great place to live and many of us have large vegetable gardens and fruit trees. These are great grizzly bear food attractants. Any self-respecting bear leaving the remote mountains and other wild lands east of the Flathead Valley, will find great food sources in our valley. They will linger near good food sources. If they linger very long in the Flathead, both bears and people will die. 

Now if you listen to the bear managers, residents of the Flathead should surround their fruit trees and vegetable gardens with study steel chain-link fencing and electric fencing. In other words, we should fortify our residential property against bear use. If you are out camping, you should have no food or other bear attractants in or near your tent. You are supposed to hang your food in a food bag 10 feet above the ground and four feet from any tree which a black bear can climb. Residents are encouraged to put their barbecues, bird feeders and garbage cans in locked garages at night.  

These are all good rules to reduce the probability of bear and people conflicts. 

But think about the woman who went for a morning hike by her home near West Yellowstone. She ended up dead, killed by a grizzly. Or the tourist who was biking across Montana and camped in the Blackfoot Valley. She was dragged out of her tent at night and killed by a grizzly. Closer to home, we lost a young man who was on a mountain bike ride, rounded a corner and ran into a grizzly.

As we get more and more people living in the Flathead and more and more bears in our valley, bear and people conflicts will only increase. The result will be dead bears and dead or badly injured people. If wildlife officials want Northern Continental Divide grizzlies to repopulate the Cabinet -Yack ecosystem, the solution is simple, live trap a few bears, load them into the back of a truck and haul them to the Cabinet Mountains. Last year, wildlife officials did that exact action and trucked surplus bears from the Northern Divide Ecosystem to the Yellowstone ecosystem. 

In non-biological language, that action is called common-sense.   

When I moved to the Flathead 50 years ago, my sons and I slept in our mountain tent in our back yard. Twenty-five years later, I did that same type of backyard camping with my granddaughters. Those nightly outings included having snacks, including popcorn, in the tent. That is now a no-no. No food items anywhere near your sleeping quarters because food is a bear attractant. Should I and other Flathead residents be denied the use of our backyards so biologists can use my yard as a bear corridor? Do I need to erect a chain-like fence and an electric fence around my apple and plum trees?

Let me say in advance, that any bear that comes into my backyard is likely to end up dead. Yes, I could probably haze that bear out of my back yard. But how would I feel if I chased the bear out of my yard, only to have the bear enter my neighbor’s yard with two young kids playing in their sandbox.

Every Flathead home should have a couple of cans of bear spray handy to chase away uninvited bears. 

Wildlife managers should do everything reasonable to keep grizzly bears out of Montana residential areas. Deer and wild turkeys in my backyard are fun to see, even though they can also be a mild nuisance. But they don’t threaten my life. Bears and people don’t mix well. 

Enjoy these wonderful summer days in the Flathead, but be bear aware.