Ursus Iowa is now a 501(c)3! It's been a good summer.
Glaciers move slowly, but they move. And in doing so they effect great change. I like glaciers.
Ursus Iowa was an idea for about 20 years. It remained mostly an idea until this summer. Now, it's a legit environmental charitable organization and we are looking forward to put all this movement into effecting positive change for the condition of black bears in Iowa.
Stay tuned for project announcements.
I got to watch a presentation last week from two boys in a project-based division of the high school. They did research on cougars and black bears and their potential for recolonization in Iowa. The presentation was well-organized and the findings were thoughtful. But their enthusiasm for the way in which they talked about the topic and their work let me know the next generation has the zeal and curiosity to be the conservation leaders we need. Nicely done boys.
Legalizing black bears, to say nothing of cougars, in Iowa is an uphill battle. With teens like these, I know that we will ultimately prevail. It is the faith and conviction that moves mountains.
It's official, it was a black bear, and and a male at that.
The wheels of justice and science both turn slowly, but they do turn. The black bear does not yet have justice in Iowa, not yet. But the science is in and the scat I collected in May of 2022 was finally confirmed through genetic testing to be a black bear (Ursus americana) and a male of the species. The report, dated 15 February 2024, came from the Laboratory for Ecological Evolutionary and Conservation Genetics at the University of Idaho. Proof!
What's next? What is next is keeping an eye open for reports this spring to make additional scat or hair collections. With a database of genetic markers, biologists will able be to point out source populations. With a source population and known Iowa locations, I foresee the commissioning of a geographical study to predict routes into and through Iowa. Predictable routes will help focus education and observation energies.
This confirmation is a big deal. Scientifically validated observations and data are keys for actions in the US system. Forward!
"Eat real food, mostly plants, not too much", words to live by from Micheal Pollan. I don't think most people score one out of three but black bears nail two of them.
The preliminary harvest data from the Wisconsin bruin season is in: hunter success rates and harvest were down. An estimated 3,000 bears got tagged, the hunter success rate was 23%. It wasn't for lack of trying. Over 130,000 people applied, more than 12,000 got tags. So what happened? Too many mosquitoes, bad weather, what? The answer may have been acorns!
Turns out the fall of 2023 had a bumper crop of acorns in northern Wisconsin. Despite the efforts of thousands of hunters pouring lord-only-knows how many gallons of bait into the woods, the black bears preferred to dine of what they evolved to, acorns--especially white oak acorns.
Donuts, reject candy, old bread, and you-name-it filled bait piles under the hopeful gaze of hunters. Perhaps they were projecting their sweet tooths onto the bears. I like bagels and candy.
The reduced Wisconsin harvest is no cause for alarm regarding the health of bear numbers in the Badger State. Rather, it's a refreshing testament that despite temptations the healthful evolutionary urges of black bears kept them on nature forage. I wish I could do the same.
Life is not a highway for bears. It's not that for turtles, snakes, or armadillos for that matter. Our highways for human life, i.e., convenience, are empirically death sentences for wildlife. Recent federal regulation to hasten wildlife friendly crossing is almost too little and almost too late.
In California, the first black bear, "BB-12" in generations to live in the Santa Monica Mountains was struck and killed on the 101. The male wore a tracking collar, proving he liked to visit the beaches of Malibu too.
A bear crossed I-94 in broad daylight west of Milwaukee on July 21. Southeast Wisconsin rarely documents bears. The Santa Monica bruin crossed busy roads and highways many times until the one time he was unsuccessful, permanently. The Waukesha county bear showed a fitness for transecting a major barrier, this time.
But as the BB-12 case, road crossings are a loser's game. Do you recall playing the video game "Frogger"? I do, and I never, ever won the whole game. Wildlife can't either.
Died in Committee, how typical a phrase that is for disappointment. House File 175 died in the Senate, not a surprise but still disappointing. Bring on legislative session 2024!
I've read only one report of a bear in Iowa, it was a single wanderer in northern Dubuque county in April. Certainly there were others but they don't always inspire a report. There is plenty of time this summer for sightings as the bear breeding season gears up, I will not be surprised of reports of young males coursing the countryside looking for love.
Random fact of the day: Vermont has a black bear population around 5,500. `
Closer than ever before
House File 175 is still alive. The road to legalizing the Black Bear in Iowa made it through another barrier. Last week was the "funnel" deadline for the Iowa legislature and it is predictably a massacre for many bills. However, HF 175 made it through. More than a feeling of relief, I hope you feel excited that this bill may get a floor vote. Be assured that I'm excited!
