Studying black bears in the wild

Today we’re hearing from Anthony Ortiz and Tanya Lama, of the University of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Conservation and Pathways Biological interns with the Division of Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration, about their recent experience studying black bears in the wild. 

One of the authors of this blog, Tanya Lama, with a female black bear cub. Credit: USFWS

 

In late March, staff from the Northeast Division of Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR) were generously invited by Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) to tag along on a black bear den visit. For many folks, even those with 25+ years of federal service, it was a first!

We gathered mid-morning to caravan together to the undisclosed location of the bear den – information which was picked up by MassWildlife via a GPS telemetry collar attached to the mother bear. GPS tracking has long been a part of black bear research and conservation in Massachusetts. Each collar is capable of recording the location of a bear over the course of two years. This highly valuable data helps biologists determine where bears spend their time foraging, rearing young, and hibernating.

Anthony Ortiz holds another black bear cub. They were only a couple of weeks old! Credit: USFWS

Upon arrival at the site, we waited in our vehicles while a small team of highly experienced biologists and game wardens approached the den. The mother bear was safely and temporarily sedated from within the den, and mother and cubs were carefully removed to collect biological data on sex, weight, age and health. At this time, our group was called in and escorted about 500 yards to the den site.

The bear den, nestled in a landowner’s backyard woods, lay under the tangled root mass of a large multiflora rose. Hidden from view, the space within the den was ample and insulated by heavy snow cover. Each bear was weighed and sexed – three female cubs, each weighing in at about five pounds in comparison to their 178 pound mother! The cubs were estimated at about six weeks old, and until then had never left the den.  Exposed to the crisp air and bright sunshine, the cubs held tightly to our bodies and tucked their faces into our warm jackets while they awaited their return to the den.

Black bear research and the associated den visits are part of the longest standing Wildlife Restoration projects supported by the Division of Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration. Federal funds, administered through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Grant Program have enabled States to carry out black bear conservation work since the mid 1980’s. Black bear projects in the region include studies of wind turbine effects in Vermont, stable- isotope diet analysis in Massachusetts, and spatial ecology throughout the region.

The bear den, close up. Closer than I’d get, in fact. Credit: USFWS

This is the bear den from farther away. Not far enough in this writer’s humble opinion! Credit: USFWS

These biologists are working on the mother bear’s radio collar. She’s been safely sedated for the brief study. Credit: USFWS

Studying one of the three black bear cubs that were in the den! Credit: USFWS

The objectives of these studies have generally examined habitat use, home range, survival of adults and cubs, sources and rates of mortality, important landscape corridors and genetic profiles of bear populations.  Maine, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts have the longest running bear monitoring projects in place, tracking bear movements via radio collars for the past 30 years. Information collected during den visits is used to write statewide management plans for bears and to adjust hunting season regulations.  Black bears are classified most often as a big game animal in the Northeast Region, but sometimes as a furbearer elsewhere.

There are regulated hunting seasons in the fall, and most states have over 15 regulations in place for bear hunters.  Black bears are sought for their meat, for their pelts, as rugs, taxidermy mounts, claw and bone jewelry, and the fat is used in cooking and in water proofing leather. The sale of bear meat is prohibited under most state laws – a reminder that we value our wildlife intrinsically and not for profit.

As students of wildlife conservation and part of the WSFR team – it was a pleasure to witness some of our federally funded conservation work on the ground. Many thanks to the MassWildlife biologists and environmental police officers for sharing their knowledge and experience with us!

Credit: USFWS

Mascot Madness!

March Madness has begun at last, which means people will be getting excited and using the word “bracket” outside of home improvement stores. All the teams have creative mascots, most often named after a fierce animal or other creature from the team’s locale — except my Minutemen, of course. They are named after something else entirely.

But some of these mascots are in trouble, and not just on the court. Out in the world, the issues these animals face are real, whether from climate change, pollution or habitat loss. Check out this terrific report from National Wildlife Federation on the issue.

The Canada lynx  relies on deep snow cover to hunt, but if that snow retreats north, so too will it the lynx. We’d hate if the only places to find this wildcat became on the logos for teams like New Hampshire, Villanova and Kentucky.

Although, I have more faith in the population of falcon’s recovery than Air Force’s. Photo via USFWS

The peregrine falcon made a comeback in recent years because of conservation efforts, and was removed from the endangered species list by the Service. But the Air Force Academy’s mascot could face trouble down the road as changing precipitation patterns can cause chicks to drown in their nests due to extreme rain events.

Without some serious changes to how we treat our world, black ducks like this guy could disappear after overhunting and habitat lost take their toll. Photo via USFWS

While not endangered, black bears could be a rarity in the lower 48 as global temperatures rise. Photo via USFWS

While Oregon’s Fighting Ducks may hold their own on the court, black ducks face problems from development as they migrate along the Atlantic Flyway. Sea-level rise is also a primary threat in the Chesapeake Bay area where many black ducks winter. The black duck population declined significantly since the 1950’s, though their populations have been stable for nearly 25 years since hunting bag limits were reduced.

While there is a healthy population of black bears here in the Northeast, climate change-related impacts like drought and other extreme weather events put bears and other species in jeopardy.

With so much important habitat located near the coast in the northeast corridor, climate change and sea-level rise pose a serious threat to wildlife populations and their habitats. So while you’re rooting for your home team to go all the way in climbing the bracket these next few weeks, take a moment to root for wildlife to too, because with our help, these species may be able to adapt to a changing climate and world.

A favorite Massachusetts stream loses a dam – and gains aquatic habitat

 

Just downstream of the former dam site at Amethyst Brook. Credit: Meagan Racey/USFWS

This post originally appeared on National Geographic’s Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on March 6. Author Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project, Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society, and author of several books and numerous articles on global water issues. Funding for the Bartlett Rod Shop Company dam removal came from a variety of sources, including our agency, a natural resources damage settlement with Holyoke Coal Tar, Mass Environmental Trust, FishAmerica Foundation/NOAA Partnership, Clean Water Action and American Rivers/NOAA Partnership. The natural resource trustees for the Holyoke Coal Tar settlement consist of MassDEP, NOAA, and our agency.

In early January, on a visit back to my old stomping grounds in western Massachusetts, I trekked along the snowy banks of Amethyst Brook, a beautiful headwater tributary in the Connecticut River watershed. My mission was to see the site of a dam removed in late 2012.

I’d hiked through this area in the towns of Amherst and Pelham many times before, but had never sought out the stretch of stream blocked by the structure known as the Bartlett Rod Shop Company Dam, after the fly rod manufacturer who began operating alongside the stream in 1864. The dam itself – a 20-foot (6-meter) tall, 170-foot (52-meter) wide rock structure – had blocked the brook since 1820.

An excavator prepares to remove the first piece of the Bartlett Rod Shop Company Dam. Credit: Meagan Racey/USFWS

Over the decades, the mill had transitioned through many uses, including a woodworking shop, a machine shop, a maker of boiler tube cleaning equipment, and finally to HRD Press, a provider of products and services for human resources development. While the company owned the dam, it didn’t need it.

After receiving a dam safety order from the state in 2007, HRD Press began working with government agencies and conservation groups to study the idea of taking the obsolete dam down. In 2010, Massachusetts officials named the dam’s removal a priority project for river restoration – and by late 2012, thanks to a broad partnership of federal and state agencies, the two towns, and conservation groups, the dam was dismantled.

A number of environmental officials joined partners and others to celebrate the restoration of Amethyst Brook and the removal of the dam in October 2012. Here, our Northeast Regional Director Wendi Weber stands with Robert Carkhuff, publisher at HRD Press and owner of the dam. “Restoring Amethyst Brook plays an important role in protecting the Fort River watershed, a valuable part of the Service’s Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge and home to brook trout, sea lamprey, Atlantic salmon and the endangered dwarf wedgemussel,” said Wendi. “We are proud to support the project through Service programs and as a trustee for the Holyoke Coal Tar settlement for damages to natural resources.”

The first piece of the dam comes out! Credit: Meagan Racey/USFWS

In the months since, Amethyst Brook has begun to heal.

Freed by the dam’s removal, sediment has moved downstream. So has organic matter in the form of leaves and woody debris, critical to aquatic food webs. Water temperature has dropped, and oxygen levels have increased.

With the dam gone, trout can now move further upstream to high-quality coldwater habitat.

And below the dam site, a stream bottom of gravel and cobbles has formed – habitat just right for the spawning of the migratory sea lamprey.

A snake-like fish, the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) migrates from the ocean to freshwater to reproduce. In the Connecticut River system, the fish moves upstream from Long Island Sound in Connecticut, passes Holyoke Dam in Massachusetts with the help of a fish lift, and then travels further north and into side tributaries in search of spawning grounds.

After depositing eggs and milt (sperm) in a protected nest of stones, the adult fish die. About two weeks later, the eggs hatch. The larvae then drift downstream and burrow into a sandy stream bottom. Young sea lamprey will remain in the river system for up to ten years before heading back to the ocean. After a year or two at sea, it will head up river to spawn, completing its life cycle.

Just six months after the Bartlett Dam was demolished, conservationists were thrilled to find sea lamprey spawning in Amethyst Brook, just below the old dam site.

Seeing this native fish spawning was “a great sign of improving conditions in the river,” writes Amy Singler, associate director of river restoration with American Rivers, one of the conservation partners involved in removing the dam. …Keep reading this post at NatGeo!