Calif.,
Nev. pool resources to combat bear problems at Tahoe
RENO,
Nev. (AP) —
Responding to last year’s record number of problems reported with bears in the
Lake Tahoe Basin, state wildlife officials in California and Nevada announced a
new agreement May 21 to pool their resources to try to minimize the conflicts this
summer.
The joint
effort outlined in the memorandum of agreement calls for the California
Department of Fish and Game and the Nevada Department of Wildlife to share
information, personnel, equipment and supplies in a cooperative black bear
management program.
“This MOA
is an important symbol of our two agencies coming together to tackle some
unfortunate bear/human interactions in the Tahoe Basin,” said Donald Koch,
director of the California agency.
Ken
Mayer, director of the Nevada agency, said both states have the jurisdictional
authority and legal responsibility to manage conflicts between the public and
wildlife.
“The
citizens of Nevada and California want their states cooperating to make sure
that the people living and visiting the Tahoe Basin leave as light a footprint
as possible,” Mayer said.
California’s
bear population is growing and is currently estimated to be between 25,000 and
35,000. Nevada has an estimated 350 black bears, mostly concentrated in the
Tahoe Basin area.
Last year
was the worst across the Reno-Tahoe region in terms of conflicts, with wildlife
officials responding to up to 1,500 calls involving 120 different bears, said
Carl Lackey, NDOW’s bear program coordinator,
Under the
new program, the agencies will share computer databases to give them more
information about black bear nuisance and property damage incidents, as well as
locations, telemetry and urban and wild land bear distribution population
characteristics.
They also
intend to:
•
Cooperate on discussions with local governments to foster adoption and
implementation of coordinated bear management policies
• Direct
field personnel to assist each other in the resolution of nuisance bear
concerns and to share material resources under appropriate circumstances
•
Schedule joint public meetings to assure that nuisance and property damage
black bear concerns are addressed in a consistent manner
• Share
information, including news releases and other communications products, such as
the DFG-produced “Keep Me Wild Campaign,” found at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/
or http://www.ndow.org/wild/kmw/index.shtm.
The two
directors plan a formal signing ceremony at 10 a.m. on May 22 at Donner
Memorial State Park in Truckee, Calif.
Doug
Updike, California’s statewide bear program coordinator, said one of the most
important ways to combat bear conflicts is to limit food odors at campgrounds.
“Problems
begin when bears learn to associate an easy food supply with humans and
developed areas,” Updike said.
“Once
this happens, bears become habituated or conditioned to go after human food
because it’s easy. If people don’t change their ways, the bears won’t either,”
he said.
Lackey
agrees that one of the biggest challenges at Lake Tahoe continues to be
teaching people to keep their garbage away from bears. “The more people who
understand that it is our responsibility to keep the bears wild, the better off
bears and humans will be,” he said.