Community looks to mitigate bear conflicts

OVANDO - Ovando residents and local agencies hope to spread the word on bear safety in order to avoid incidents similar to the fatal grizzly bear attack that occurred in downtown Ovando in early July.

Representatives from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) held an open house in Ovando Thursday, Aug. 5. There the representatives and residents had a public discussion on what communal and individual methods could be taken towards mitigating wildlife conflicts and how bear safety messages can be spread to the wider public across the area.

Randy Arnold, FWP regional supervisor, began the meeting by complimenting residents on their reaction to the situation.

"Nothing prepared me for that [incident]," he said. "And when I think about the community and the community response, nothing can prepare you guys for that either. I just wanted to start by saying thanks to you in this community ... the sheer response and the immediacy of response by this community, we could not have managed that incident without you."

Leah Lokan, a 65-year-old California cyclist, was killed in downtown Ovando before dawn July 6 by a 417-pound male grizzly bear that was six-years-old. The bear was initially driven away from her camping party before it returned and attacked her in her tent. The bear had no conflict history but is believed to have been drawn to town by attractants.

Immediately following the attack, the community ordered bear boxes that cyclists could use to store attractants in overnight. Fred Valiton, co-owner of the Blackfoot Commercial Company who has been helping with the delivery, said the boxes have arrived in town but they have not yet been fully set up. He does not have a time estimate as to when they will be completed.

In the meantime Ovando is offering old insulated military food containers for attractant storage. Electric fences are available at the Ovando Fire Department for those that want to borrow them while tent camping. Blackfoot Angler owner Kathy Schoendoerfer said so far they have had no takers with some cyclists still choosing to sleep overnight in the Blackfoot Community Bible Church.

The community increased signage warning visitors of the presence of bears and what one should do should they come across them. Schoendoerfer said they have gone through several versions of their "Seven Commandments for Tenting in Bear Country" and have issued them to FWP and the U.S. Forest Service.

Commandments include securing all scented items in bear resistant storage, cooking away from camp and looking for shelter after a bear "introduces itself" to one's site. They hope to have these messages mass-printed and spread to the entire state of Montana or at least the western portion.

Schoendoerfer said she thinks that the community is definitely moving towards normal, however residents have a "heightened sense of education towards people and bears."

"I'm finding it almost amazing how many people from out of state are coming in and don't understand the ramifications or don't even think we really have bears, even after everything that's happened," she said. "When I tell people they need bear spray, I've got the perfect example on why they need [it]. When they know that it happened here, all of a sudden, the possibility is a lot more alive than if I said somebody was up in the Bob Marshall Wilderness."

Regarding broader communication, community members said that they would like to see consistent messaging spread throughout the area for not just visitors unfamiliar with the region but also other residents. Several people gave anecdotal examples of encounters they have had with others in which someone showed ignorance on the proper usage and/or necessity of bear spray.

One attendee said he has seen people carry bear spray well past its expiration date while another said they came across someone who was resistant to spend money on a can.

Hilary Cooley, USFWS grizzly bear recovery coordinator, proposed showing bear spray usage videos to people while they are waiting in line at local businesses. One attendee suggested having people answer questions regarding wildlife safety before they can acquire a fishing or hunting license.

Others in attendance felt that broadcasting safety messages in airports and other forms of public transportation would be effective in communicating the presence and danger of black and grizzly bears. They also want to express the importance of personal responsibility and cleaning up after oneself when in nature. One person said the Montana Office of Tourism would likely be the best entity for helping spread the messages.

FWP Bear Specialist Jamie Jonkel estimates that there are around 60 individual bears that are part of a core group living in the Clearwater Blackfoot Valley. The area also sees a lot of bears coming in from the Rocky Mountain front, the Flathead, the Swan and the South Fork during transient states.

According to a press release from FWP, while grizzly bears are common in the Blackfoot Valley, encounters resulting in human injury or death are rare. There has only been one other fatality in the area in the last 50 years. In 2001 a grizzly bear and her cubs killed a hunter near his elk carcass.

Cooley said that as of today, grizzly bears are listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. Earlier this year USFWS put out a status review as required by the Act. For this, they looked at the Northern Continental Divide's ecosystem where they found that local bear populations are at "recovered levels."

Cooley said when they reach this bear population threshold, they begin considering delisting them from the Act. In order for them to be delisted, not only does their population have to reach a certain figure, but USFWS also has to work with agencies to install regulations that will ensure a recovered population for the future as well as protected habitats.

She said when they pursue delisting, they anticipate facing litigation from tribal and environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project and The Humane Society.

They began looking at delisting in 2018 but they put it off because they were being litigated on another delisting in the Yellowstone ecosystem. They wanted to see how the case would play out and what implications the decision would have for the future.

They lost that litigation in the Montana District Court and lost their appeal in the Ninth Circuit. They also lost their case and appeal when they tried delisting in 2007. If they decided to pursue another delisting, it would take around two years and would not be guaranteed success.

"You lose time and maybe it's time that we could be spending trying some other avenues," Cooley said.

Cooley said despite these litigations, USFWS still works closely with several "non-governmental organizations" that provide a lot of support and resources as well as help share costs on projects.

As of now, people are legally allowed to kill a bear if human life is threatened. The incident must be reported to a state or federal agency within five days. Under federal law however, individuals are not permitted to kill a bear if it is attacking, threatening or killing livestock. There are exceptions for federal, state and tribal agencies.

Arnold said during the 2019 legislative session, the state adopted Senate Bill 98, which had some changes to the Montana code regarding what landowners can do when defending livestock from grizzly bears. The bill said that state residents have some protection from prosecution should they kill a bear while it is killing livestock.

He said this creates "a bit of a mixed message" because while that state statute is in place, federal law supersedes it and still holds people accountable for shooting a bear while it is attacking livestock. FWP does provide legal alternatives by allowing landowners to harass or deter encroaching bears through non-lethal means.

Acceptable hazing techniques include trained dogs, visual stimuli, non-projectile auditory deterrents, vehicle threats, paintballs, noise making projectiles under certain conditions and throwing stones or marbles when they are not aimed at the bear's face.

Unacceptable methods include screamers, whistlers, rubber bullets, rubber batons, bean bags and aero sock rounds. The full deterrence guideline can be found on https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/es/Library/Grizzly%20Bear%20Hazing%20Guidance.FINAL_03092020.pdf.

Infrastructural prevention tactics homeowners can employ include electrified fences and "unwelcome mats." Details on how to make a mat can be found on http://bearsmartdurango.org/unwelcome-mats/. 

Arnold said campers need to be aware of their attractants and should separate their cooking site from their camping site. They should also store attractants like toothpaste and other bathroom products away from the sleeping area and avoid sleeping in the same clothes they cooked in.

He said they do write citations for people who are not managing their food correctly while camping. Still they may struggle with getting the message across on a wider scale.

"You contact a camp and you write them a ticket, that might be the one time they camp all summer," Arnold said. "The next weekend, you've got 40 new campers [that need] to be educated."

Jonkel said setting up an electric fence around a tent can be a great tool for avoiding predator contact but it may not be necessary for every circumstance. He does recommend setting up something that could act as a nearby alert system however.  

"I don't always go with an electric fence, but I usually pull stuff around the outside of my camp so that I've got an early warning of a bear, a skunk or some weirdo walking around my camp," he said. "They'll hopefully trip over something and give me that little nudge."

Other mitigation tactics FWP recommends include:

• Reading trailhead signs and staying on trails

• Being especially careful around creeks and dense brush areas 

• Traveling in groups and making casual noise that can alert bears of one's presence

• Staying away from animal carcasses 

• Backing away slowly and exiting an area should one encounter a bear

More information on bear safety and instructions on making an electrified fence can be found on https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/species/bear/bear-aware.