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Bear Update: Mid-June report

Bear Researcher Huckleberry Phenology At valley elevations huckleberry ( Vaccinium spp. ) is 1/3 to 1/2 fruit swell, meaning berries are moderate size and green.

Bear Researcher

Huckleberry Phenology

At valley elevations huckleberry ( Vaccinium spp. ) is 1/3 to 1/2 fruit swell, meaning berries are moderate size and green. Balanced weather during fruit swell and coloration (June) will ensure ripening in early to mid-July.

Bumblebees and honeybees are currently pollinating the cream, pink, and white inverted flowers of Vaccinium at mid-mountain in the ski area despite the sudden drop in temperature. Cool sunny days are better than cool, cloudy days.

As berry ripening begins in July throughout the valley and progresses upward into the mountains, weather continues to play a vital role dictating the life of the berry crop. Too much sun can limit berry size and shrivel berries and too much rain can cause rot. Balanced weather is the key. Berry crop failures in the past increased potential bear/human conflicts as bears were forced to return to the valley in search of alternative berries and/or opportunistic sources of high carbohydrate human foods within residential areas.

Mothers and Cubs

As of June 15 six bear family groups (two cubs each) have been confirmed in Whistler. One black mother, believed to be Alice , a resident to Whistler-Blackcomb ski area, has been seen frequently with two brown cubs between the base of Whistler-Blackcomb and the Fairmont Chateau Golf Course-Lost Lake area.

If you encounter bear families or any bears please respect their space and keep away. It has been proven in Whistler that the more attention you draw to the bear(s) the more likely the situation will turn negative. Valley bear activity is normal as long as people respect their space and do not leave human food attractants available.

Alice and cubs are bouncing around locations close to people because she is likely trying to avoid the main intersection of bear activity at mid-mountain, where potential breeding pairs of males and females are dominating through June and July. Less dominant bears will often limit their foraging to outskirts of prime spring green-up to avoid physical confrontation with adult males.

Alice usually grazes in the mountain bike park and may have been pushed out by bike activity and confrontations with older resident mother Katie and her two cubs.

Breeding Period

The breeding period for black bears is late May through late July. This period is uniform for most of North America. This is generally, the only time you will see adults ( > four years) in pairs. Peak of actual mating activity is mid-June through mid-July.

The onset of male activity may initiate family break-up. Mothers with 17-19 month old cubs (yearlings) separate so that mom now represents a single, receptive female available for males. Earliest courtship behaviour was observed on May 17.

Males will scent-trail females and spend time feeding in their presence. Courting pairs will also engage in play. A pair may spend a day or so together without mating if the female is not ready. Males then may leave to search out other potential females.

Mothers with COY (cubs-of-the-year) cannot and will not breed. However, if their offspring are killed mothers have mated a week later.

For reasons not fully understood (yet), males will (opportunistically) seek out family groups to kill the cubs for the purpose of potentially breeding with the mother. I have observed this behaviour during years of high and low numbers of single, mature females. The survival rate of cubs while in maternal care is 95 per cent so mom’s do an adequate job at defending their cubs against males.

Genetic Tagging Whistler Bears

A major focus of the Whistler Black Bear Project has been to identify breeding pairs and to identify potential fathers of known families. In 2001 I took a course at the Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology (Revelstoke, B.C.) on DNA-based wildlife studies using hair sampling from black bears to determine individuality, gender, and potential relatedness. Since the fall of 2001, I have collected over 150 samples of bear hair from resident females, offspring, and potential fathers from non-invasive barbed-wire enclosures. With proposed funding from the Whistler-Blackcomb Environment Fund I hope to analyze these samples at Wildlife Genetics International Ltd. (in Nelson, B.C.) this spring to confirm the identity of ski area, golf course, and Whistler Municipal Landfill bears.

Hair trapping will continue this year with a broader application in three different areas of Whistler: valley bottom "urban habitats", mid-elevation, and high elevation, to determine the minimum population estimate of black bears in the resort.

Funding so far is secured from the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University and the Ministry of Water, Air, and Land Protection (WALP). I am hoping to propose additional, required funding from recreational-area stakeholders of productive bear habitat that influence population dynamics.

SFU graduate student Robyn Appleton will be assisting me with hair trapping. Next week a formal description of the study will be available in the Pique Newsmagazine.

Public Input

Public input is vital to successful community bear management programs. The last decade in Whistler has seen tremendous growth in awareness and knowledge of the local bear population. Bear life has become a personal issue for a growing number of people. A Grade 6 student said to me the other day that she has heard me talk about bears twice each year since she was in kindergarten – now she won’t because she is going into high school.

Bear education must never stop. It must be progressive and dynamic, fitting the needs of people to ensure they understand the needs of bears.

I would like to thank everyone for their input this spring on sightings and activity – it has been the highest in 10 years. Over 90 per cent of all sightings have been confirmed.

Bear Sightings and Photos

I am interested in all bear sightings especially bear family groups and if you have photos representing a clear view of a bear’s head (face) and neck and/or chest you may e-mail or notify me. Please do not approach bears to photograph. Thanks!

Thanks to Pique Newsmagazine for support of this bear outreach. Questions, information, or bear family sighting reports please call Michael Allen at 604-902-1660 or e-mail mallen_coastbear@direct.ca.