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Species of Special Concern
Photo ©Ken WhittenStatus
Alaska population of special concern
Description
Brown bears can be found throughout the Kenai Peninsula, except in the coastal portions of Game Management Unit 7 in Kenai Fjords National Park. Densities of bears are considered highest in the lowland forests and intermountain valleys where anadromous streams provide salmon for feeding. The Kenai Peninsula is located in south central Alaska adjacent to Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Alaska
Habitats and Habits
Brown bears spend most of their waking hours eating or in search of food. Brown bears emerge from their dens in early to mid-April and begin feeding on emergent vegetation and, to some extent, winter carrion. In areas with moose and caribou, brown bears search out and prey on newborn calves from mid-May to mid-July. This time also coincides with the bears' breeding season.
By July, some streams and rivers contain salmon. Bears spend much of the summer and fall concentrated along salmon streams until spawned out carcasses are no longer available. By September and into early fall, bears finish fattening up on berries and begin entering their dens in early October.
Causes of Decline
The long-term health of brown bears on the Kenai Peninsula depends upon maintaining quality bear habitat. While some land is protected in federally designated wilderness areas, considerable habitat is threatened by human encroachment. The Kenai Peninsula is one of the fastest growing regions in the state. Commercial, recreational and residential developments in communities throughout the peninsula will continue to reduce the quantity and quality of bear habitat into the next century. The infrastructure (gaslines, powerlines and roads) to service these communities will continue to fragment bear habitat and further threaten the viability of brown bears.
Recent increases in the number of nuisance bear complaints, bear human encounters, and Defense of Life or Property (DLP) kills have raised concerns with bear managers on the Kenai. While harvests are closely monitored and regulations modified to protect bears when needed, wildlife managers have virtually no control over DLP's, which occur when people and bears come in contact with each other. We must take steps to minimize these negative interactions before others are injured or killed or bears needlessly shot. All activities that encroach on bear habitat should be scrutinized and carefully planned in order to minimize the impacts to bears.
Currently, timber harvest practices designed to salvage dead and dying trees from the spruce bark beetle epidemic could produce large scale effects on the quality of brown bear habitat. Logging mature forests may affect brown bears in many ways, including fragmentation of forested habitat and increased access to the public through an extensive road system.
Range of the Kenai Peninsula Brown BearResearch and Recovery
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been working with the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service on brown bear habitat concerns. In 1984, the Interagency Brown Bear Study Team (IBBST) was officially formed to collaborate on projects and direct needed research activities. Much of what we know about Kenai brown bear ecology was initiated through this group.
Management of Kenai Peninsula brown bears is based on sustained yield principles. Because brown bears are long lived and have a low reproductive potential, we manage them very conservatively. Currently, a short fall season by permit allows hunters to take the small harvestable surplus, and hunters are encouraged to take male bears. [See Kenai Peninsula brown bear management report (PDF file).]
The Department of Fish and Game initiated a strategic planning process in June of 1999. The process involved stakeholders from various groups and agencies and produced a management plan to ensure the conservation of brown bears into the next century.
Text: Gino Del Frate
For Additional Information
Please contact:
Doug Vincent-Lang
(907) 267-2339
