LIVING WITH BEARS

The life of Bear Technicians is full of bluff charges and adrenaline. The daily drama of chasing bears makes for an easy edge of the seat story that should matter to those of us who pay for, and feel collective ownership of, our National Parks. Many of the bears in Katmai National Park, where these images were taken, are habituated to humans and difficult to haze away from housing areas. This catalyzes a ratcheting up of already high stakes as the bear techs try to haze the most stubborn bears, perhaps tempting tragedy.

Regardless, the hope is to preserve wild bears, not to domesticate them. This pushes the bear techs toward regulating and modifying human behaviors instead and leads to the deeper questions at the heart of this story. Can we accept that, at this point, a real bear-human truce will require more sacrifice from us than from them? The real job of a Bear Tech is, in a way, to craft a new kind of human lifestyle that is more balanced and that is at least sustainable enough to allow for coexistence with bears. They develop and enforce regulations on human behaviors. They control where humans can hike, drive, have food, store garbage and more, all in the hopes of creating a society that sustainably hosts both humans and bears.

In Katmai the bear techs enforce regulations in what is likely the most regulated National Park area in the country. Food is not allowed outside at anytime for any reason in Brooks Camp and thus bears have never learned to associate humans with food rewards. Everyone who visits Brooks Camp must attend a twenty minute training immediately upon arrival. These regulations might serve as guides to to communities in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, or other parts of Alaska where grizzly bears can be viewed as a nusance at best. 

The natural sounds of feet scuffing gravel and branches snapping seem to motivate bears to run away far better than yelling or clapping. 

The rivers bring the salmon, the salmon bring the bears, the bears bring the people. 

The rivers bring the salmon, the salmon bring the bears, the bears bring the people. 

Tens of thousands of tourists visit this remote camp in Katmai National Park every summer. They come to be close to bears but such proximity isn't without a cost. How much are we willing to sacrifice to coexist with these animals?

Often the Bear Techs find that the sounds of breaking sticks or rustling a raincoat are more effective at hazing the bears than yelling or clapping. 

Urus Arctos, the Brown Bear, lives in areas with access to marine resources. In this case, migrating salmon. Grizzly Bears are a subspecies of Brown Bears that live in the interior of a continent. 

After a bear bluff charged up the hill the bear techs rally together, yelling and breaking sticks, to frighten the bear back away from the Brooks Camp Lodge. 

A subadult bear peers at the humans watching it, perhaps trying to decide how to get past them. 

A large male bear and a bear tech eye one another in the Brooks Camp housing area. If we dictate where wildlife can and cannot go is it still wildlife? 

Humans and Bears walking together. Are the National Parks and Bear Tech Rangers an example of coexistance happening and working? Or do these places show the front lines in a war that's been waging for thousands of years? 

A bear tech examines Watermelon Berry leaves covered in bear spray. The strong deterring pepper spray temporarily disables the bear’s important sense of smell. After the spray settles it can actually become an attractant for bears so the bear techs will clean it up if possible. 

A particularly troublesome brown bear sow considers charging into camp past bear techs. 

Bear Techs regroup and debrief after an intense night of chasing bears. 

Land of the Late Night Sun! 

The physical space we give to bears and to ourselves matters a great deal. In the lower 48 states bears have relinquished all but a tiny sliver of their former habitat. 

A bear tech uses a biopsy dart gun to obtain a tissue sample from a bear for genetics research. He hoped the dart would also haze the bear out of camp but it didn't. The dart bounced out as intended and the bear continued about its business. 

The very thing we love about wildlife, and bears in particular, is their freedom to do as they please. A bear tech tries using a slingshot as a hazing tool against a bear that keeps returning to camp. 

The physical space we give to bears and to ourselves matters a great deal. In the lower 48 states bears have relinquished all but a tiny sliver of their former habitat. 

The bear techs in Katmai attempt to push bears out of Brooks Camp's mostly invisible boundary. Here the bear and the ranger stay on their own side of the line. Teaching the bears the nuanced camp boundary is a never ending challenge that has led many people to wonder if Brooks Camp itself should be moved. 

Please contact Daniel Lombardi with any questions, suggestions or comments regarding this story. 

DANI.J.LOMBARDI@GMAIL.COM
406-560-5843