It's springtime when bears have emerged from their winter hibernation, many with cubs in tow, and are out and about exploring the Clearwater Valley. If you and your neighbors are curious and a bit worried about what the bears are up to in your neighborhood, here's some good news.
Clearwater Valley Bear Smart Group selected Alan Davis to be our first local coordinator. This new position will support education and other activities to help Seeley Lake and surrounding areas to become more bear aware. Davis will monitor bear activity and work with local residents to reduce and mitigate bear issues. He will also be assisting Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) with bear management issues when the need arises. Clearwater Valley Bear Smart Group is incredibly grateful for the Blackfoot Challenge's funding to help launch this position and for promoting important local activities to help all of us reduce local bear problems.
Did you know that Blackfoot-Clearwater watershed is home to upwards of 50- 60 grizzly bears at any given time and far more black bears? Unfortunately, we also have the distinction of being home to the most bear problems in Montana. Clearwater Valley Bear Smart Group was formed last year to formalize a local organization to raise bear awareness and minimize human-bear conflict in the valley. Our primary mission is to provide residents, businesses and visitors with knowledge, guidance and resources to manage bear attractants in the community; to become advocates for safe recreation in the adjacent wildlands; and become ambassadors for better human/bear coexistence.
We are most fortunate to have Davis as the Clearwater Valley Bear Smart coordinator to help our community better understand and manage bear problems. For the past five years, Davis has assisted the Blackfoot Challenge and Montana FWP's grizzly bear research activities by deploying bear rub posts and collecting hair samples. Davis has been active in the Seeley-Placid Lake community for decades. He's currently the president of the Placid Lake Association and on the Board of Seeley Lake ROCKS.
Having Davis on board as a local coordinator is vital for us to begin preparing a community bear hazard assessment and to assist with education/outreach events to better educate the community (bear fairs, neighborhood educational and social events, electric fencing workshops, etc.). His initial efforts will focus on identifying areas with high bear attractant issues and, in cooperation with property owners, devise and implement bear attractant management and containment systems. The goal is to continue developing a local plan specifically designed to help Seeley Lake's unincorporated town and outlying area leaders address the issues that are the root cause of bear conflicts and develop solutions to them.
Please keep in mind that Clearwater Valley Bear Smart and Davis are here to help but they are not the primary contacts for reporting bear sightings or bear encounters.
To report bear problems or encounters, please contact Montana FWP staff: Jamie Jonkel (406-544-1447), Eli Hampson (406-210-3213), Brad Balis (406-210-9049) or local FWP Warden Garrett Kocab (406-210-1299).
Check out Missoula Bears' website at http://www.Missoulabears.org for more information about bear activity in the Clearwater Valley.
For more information on Clearwater Valley Bear Smart, you can reach out to the new coordinator, Davis, at balan.davis@outlook.com.
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