Danielle Oyler, bear education coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, shows first graders how to warn off an approaching bear during her encounter training session at Seeley Lake Elementary School's Bear Academy.
Tim Ryan of Salish and Kootenai Community College explains to third graders the relationship local Native American tribes have with bears in the area and what they mean symbolically to them.
Game Warden Sydney Young shows second graders how to tell the difference between black and grizzly bears during her session about laws and poaching. She also brought a live trap to show the students.
FWP Bear Specialist Jamie Jonkel teaches seventh graders about the biology of bear populations during his collaborative presentation with Chuck Bartlebaugh. Bartlebaugh shared information about bear behavior and he gave a bear spray demonstration to the junior high students later in the day. At another station, Vital Ground Foundation Conservation Director Mitch Doherty taught a linkage and habitat class.
Blackfoot Challenge Education Coordinator Elaine Caton teaches third graders about tracking bears during her session on telemetry.
Carrie Hunt brought her Karelian bear dogs to demonstrate how they are used to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. She and Jessica Reyes of Wind River Tails and Trails showed students how to electrify chicken coops to keep out predators.
Artist Elizabeth Stone has kindergarten students fill out a poster board as part of Seeley Lake Elementary School's Bear Academy.
Artist Kris Gullikson assisted students in creating this bear sculpture that was stuffed with garbage after the shell, made of plaster of Paris, dried. She did this project with the students as a metaphor to reflect humans' effect on the environment. It is on display in the front entrance at SLE.
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley Lake Elementary School students spent the day at the Lions Club Park learning about bear safety and the role bears play in the local ecosystem during the school's Bear Academy Tuesday, May 4. Students transitioned through presentations taught by local agencies throughout the day.
"We just have this really awesome, collaborative group of people who've all come together to educate Seeley's young people about living in bear habitat," organizer Rob Green said. "It's really cool to be a part of that and to be able to help."
Green is an environmental studies graduate student with the University of Montana. He said he collaboratively organized the event with SLE junior high math and science teacher Patti Bartlett, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Bear Specialist Jamie Jonkel, Blackfoot Challenge Education Coordinator Elaine Caton and local artist Elizabeth Stone.
At one point in the day, the middle schoolers were able to practice using bear spray.
Bartlett said the event was necessary because according to her, last year the area was beginning to see a lot more human-bear interactions compared to the past, much of which was garbage related.
Green agreed that it is essential for residents and visitors to understand how to cohabitate with bear populations.
"The bears aren't going anywhere and people aren't going anywhere," he said. "And I think, we're living in an ecosystem where you're seeing a rebound in bear populations, you're seeing more people coming through this area ... so you've got the same amount of land, but you've got more people and more bears that are on it."
To make the lessons more engaging, Bartlett said she felt that an outdoor approach would be more effective.
"I believe the best way to learn is play space education," she said. "And we live in some of the richest bear habitat in the country and everybody needs to be able to coexist safely with their surrounding neighbors and those are our bears."
She said the school intends to host an art show promoting bear safety before the end of the year. A date has not yet been determined.
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