Christopher Bell Issue Brief #4

Black Bear Management in NJ

The black bear was once abundant in every county of New Jersey. Because the bear was common it proved to be very useful with Indians and settlers. Indians and early settlers valued the bear for its flavorful meat, and its white fat which provided sweet oil for frying as well as a base for medicines. The pelts were used for trade and clothing by the settlers, as settlers entered New Jersey, extensive burning and land clearing took place eliminating a lot wildlife habitat. Other species that roamed south jersey before this were the panther, timber wolf and bobcat. The black bear were soon pushed into less productive and inaccessible areas. Some bears learned quickly that settlements provided rich stores of food in the form of livestock, gardens and storehouses. Bears were often perceived as a threat to the settlers existence and were killed without reason. Burning, clearing, grazing, crops and the charcoal industry soon changed the character of New Jersey forests. At the time of original settlement, 80 percent of New Jersey was forested. By the decade of 18501860, most forest stands had been cut over. Coupled with unregulated hunting, the black bears numbers decreased rapidly. By 1885 black bear still lingered within New Jersey's boundaries but had been driven into remote mountains and swamps by the continual clearing of land and unrestricted killing. The wolf, elk and beaver had all been exterminated from New Jersey which the black bear was used to praying on. Although the rest of these animals have been taken out of New Jersey the black bear has made a comeback and is now flourishing. This has become an issue due to the dense population of humans in New Jersey. Now bear and human interactions happen quite frequently which is scaring locals. With the bear population on the rise, in 1953 the black bear was given game animal status under Division of Fish and Game regulations. As a game animal, black bear could be taken by licensed archers and firearm hunters. This has caused a good amount of controversy because at one point there were no bears in NJ and bears in the wild are usually a good indicator of a healthy ecosystem. With the reintroduction of hunting these bears could turn out to be a harmful effect on the bears population. This is due to the fact that bears a k-selective species, which means they take much more time to reproduce and attend to their young. If hunted, there population could easily

and rapidly decrease causing them to be pushed out of this state once more. Although their population is significantly on the rise the bear has already shown once that it can be harmed severely by human interaction. Animal right groups across the nation have been protesting Governor Christis decision to re-open the bear hunt and are coming to find that it is not having any effect on his decision. The black bear, being a fragile species, if nothing is done to properly manage them then there could be severer repercussion and ultimately the loss of the black bear in NJ. Although there are many views on how to properly manage the black bear population, our state has chosen the black bear hunt. Some scientists believe that the only way to manage the black bear is to hunt the population of 3,500 in New Jersey. They say that this population is growing out of control and no longer can be managed by non-lethal means. Others feel that there are many ways of management that have never been put into effect and would be a lot less violent solution. Environmental groups believe that bear hunting does not reduce nuisance complaints black bear complaints in NJ have been decreasing, not increasing, and Bear hunting causes the bear population to increase, not decrease. It is being called a glorified trophy hunt in which they are hunting for the biggest males of the population which has little effect on population numbers. In 2005 the bear hunt in NJ was illegal due to prior years violations. This was mainly due to a misrepresentation of many of the stats used in favor of the hunt such as females data on sex ratio of bears killed in 2003; data on pregnant females being protected during the hunt; and Ignored a warning that data from the previous bear hunt "made little biological sense," from Duane Diefenbach, a scientist from Penn State. Also the carrying capacity of the population of black bears in New Jersey was under estimated. If nothing is done about the current management issues the population of black bears will not change and the population will still be on the rise. If there is a way to properly maintain the black bear population there will need to be some changes in the plan that is currently being enforced. If you want to properly hunt the bears to manage the population then, instead of hunting mostly large males, the policy should be to hunt mostly females. This is because killing males has little effect on the amount of bears that can be produced each year. If females are killed more regularly the population would most likely become stable or decreased. Another way to stop the human and bear interactions would be to properly inform and educate people living amongst the bears habitat. The bears have been entering human inhabited areas because they link them to easy ways of obtaining food. This is mostly because trash is not properly stored and is readily available to the bears. If people are educated on how to detour

bears from the places they are not wanted there should less interaction. This begins with bear proofed lids for trash cans.