Location: Lincoln, Montana
The community of Lincoln was chosen as the project site owing to its location adjacent to a wildlife movement corridor, its dire need for pro-active human-bear conflict mediation, and its enormous opportunities to provide education outreach. Lincoln is located within one of the five grizzly bear recovery zones; it sits at the southern end of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. The area surrounding Lincoln is considered an expansion zone for grizzly bear colonization.
Collaborators: Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, University of Montana, Blackfoot Challenge, US Forest Service, Vital Ground, Montana Waste Systems
Overview of the Montana Project:
In many areas in the western United States, bear-human conflicts are significant and ongoing. In addition to helping one bear-habituated community in western Montana become bear-resistant, Bear Trust and our collaborators are conducting scientific research to measure the efficacy of installing wildlife-resistant containers.
This is important because conservation and management actions should be based on sound science. Currently, the scientific and management communities do not know how bears respond to the installation of wildlife-resistant dumpsters in real-life situations. Do bears stop frequenting the community when wildlife-resistant containers are installed? Do bears begin or increase behaviors such as breaking into homes and vehicles? To what degree do bear-resistant containers affect bear behavior, relative to the fluctuating availability of natural bear foods? To what degree do bear-resistant containers affect bear behavior, relative to the presence of other bear attractants (e.g., bird feeders, unfenced bee yards, etc.)? As the interface between humans and wildlife increases, the answers to these questions will have significant implications for wildlife management and community planning.
Bear Trust is deeply committed to education. As part of the Montana Project, we will use some research data as a vehicle to provide creative education opportunities for children. We expect to impact children at the local, regional, and national levels.
Research Plan for the Montana Project:
Broadly speaking, the study design will include pre- and post-treatment data. We will trap bears in and near the study community, attach ARGOS/GPS collars, and then track bear movements for at least one year prior to installing bear-resistant containers throughout the study community (i.e., pre-treatment data). We will then track bear movements for at least two years after bear-resistant capability has been achieved (i.e., post-treatment data). We will also estimate annual and seasonal availability of natural bear foods, as well as document spatio-temporal availability of other bear attractants (e.g., bird feeders, unfenced bee yards, etc.), and incorporate these into our analyses.
In addition to assessing the effect of wildlife-resistant containers on bear movements, we will evaluate the success of installing bear-resistant containers in terms of human dimensions using a survey. The survey will be mailed to each home within the study community twice: once before bear-resistant capabilty is achieved and once after.
Education Component of the Montana Project:
The Education Component will encompass three areas of concentration: 1) field science using data from research bears, 2) human dimensions science using survey data, and, 3) habitat conservation using information about conservation easements. We will tailor the education component to each of the following four groups: 1) K-2nd grades, 2) 3rd-5th grades, 3) 6th-8th grades, and, 4) 9th-12th grades.
Children and educators who live in Montana, as well as the entire nation, will also have free access to the education program, which will be made available on the Bear Trust website.
Bear Trust envisions the web-based outreach program to be an education portal for children where they participate in real-life conservation science. Our aim is to teach children about bear biology, the scientific method, math, conservation, and human responsibility in wildlife habitat. We hope to empower and inspire children to become actively engaged in conservation, the natural environment, and their communities.
Goals for the Montana Project:
The project in Montana will meet the following goals: 1) help the long-term conservation of a wildlife movement corridor, 2) increase human safety, 3) increase the probability of bear survival by decreasing the number of bears that become habituated to humans and trash, 4) provide critical information, based on sound science, to help guide effective wildlife conservation and community planning, 5) provide creative education opportunities for children, 6) foster community participation, and, 7) serve as a model for other communities that exist in bear habitat.
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