Bear Necessities at North Cascades National Park

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September 2, 2020

Watch at: 00:00 / 00:00:20live in welcome good afternoon my nameis lori ward i'm ceo at washington'snational park fund we're glad you'rewith us here todayuh wnpf raises millions of dollars everyyear for our national parks we're havinga very good year this year thankfullyin light of everything that's underwayin our nation and around the worldWatch at: 00:20 / 00:40uh today we're going to talk bears up inthe north cascadeswe're going to steer away from the topicof the grizzly bearsand everything that's gone on over thelast few years you can learn more aboutthat by going to north cascades nationalparks websitebut that's not the purpose of our visitwith dave todayhe's going to educate us on bears and iWatch at: 00:40 / 01:00personally am very fascinatedi remember years ago when my husband andi firsthiked in the um in glaciernational park and everywhere we went wesaw the bear warningsand i was probably 25 i was like oh mygoodnessand it was just so exciting in a way butalso nerve-wracking andWatch at: 01:00 / 01:20all of you can relate to that you canremember back to a time when you havebeen in parks where bears are so withthat i am happy to have dave hersey withus here today dave's an interpretiverangerup in north cascades national parks he'sbeen with the national park service forquite some time and hashad some great experiences across ourWatch at: 01:20 / 01:40country sowith that dave welcome we're glad you'rewith us here todayuh thank you you're welcome and i'mgonna turn it on over to you dave thanksfor being hereall right well hello my name is rangerdaveand welcome to the north cascades i wantto start off by askingWatch at: 01:40 / 02:00a question in one word what is the firstthingthat comes to mind when you hear theword bearnow i've done bear safety talks aroundthe country for many yearsand i've asked this question a lot and iget a widearray of answers so i've heard thingslikebeauty nature love admirationWatch at: 02:00 / 02:20fear survival and empathy so todayduring the program i would like for youto think about what bears mean to youand what bears mean to our landscape andthus what bears meanto our national parks bears are a veryvery important part of our ecosystemthat we have to co-exist with todayWatch at: 02:20 / 02:40we're going to learn how to coexist withbearsin the wild for their safety as well asoursso the primary bear we have here innorth cascadesis the black bear there may be somegrizzlies here in the park we reallydon't knowhowever the last grizzly bear spottedhere was in 1996 so that's been quiteWatch at: 02:40 / 03:00some time agowe're going to start off discussing thebears habitat and how they surviveand how they've adapted to survive thiswill give us some insightinto how bears react the way they doin certain circumstancesuh also we'll be discussing things wecan do to protect bears and preventWatch at: 03:00 / 03:20bad bear behavior most of the time it'sbad human behaviorthat gets bears into trouble and lastlywe're going to talk about what to doduring a bear encounter so it looks likewe've already started the slide showi want to start off by getting theaudience active and participating inWatch at: 03:20 / 03:40this programso we're going to start off with a polland this may seem like a dumb questionbut what color are black bearsso the answers that we have for thatare black of course blue blackbrown dark brown cinnamonwhite or silver or a all of the aboveWatch at: 03:40 / 04:00so we're going to give you about 20 or30 seconds to respond to that polland see what you come up withWatch at: 04:00 / 04:20okay 21 percent of you said black bearsare blackuh six percent said they're blue blacktwo percent of you said they were brownten percent say they're dark brown zeroWatch at: 04:20 / 04:40percentsaid they were cinnamon and two percentsaid they're white or silverand 58 percent of you said uh only theall the abovewell the correct answer is all of theaboveso why are black bears called black it'sbecause when the first settlers cameover from europeWatch at: 04:40 / 05:00and they landed uh here on the eastcoastall the black bears were black themajorityof bears uh east of the great plainsare black bears so that's how they gottheir common name uhblack bears but black bears come in morecolors than any other north americanmammalWatch at: 05:00 / 05:20so let's go to slide number two i thinkwe're on that nowuh there is no doubt that bears are veryimportant to the functioning of theecosystembears perform several essentialfunctionsbears are omnivores which means they eatboth plants and animalsthis is essential to the habitat whenbears eat plants they ingest seedsWatch at: 05:20 / 05:40and bears wander great distances whenbears poop out these seedsnew plants begin to grow in areas wherethey may not have grown beforethe seeds also have fertilizer dispersedwith themthese new plants in new areas attractnew animals who eat themin short bears are what we call habitatWatch at: 05:40 / 06:00engineersand that they are responsible forcreating biodiversityand new habitats next time you're hikingand enjoying uh the diversity of plantsand animals in the northcascades in part thank a bear slidenumber three pleaseWatch at: 06:00 / 06:20bears are also at the top of the foodchain and are known as a keystonespecies because they have a great effecton our ecosystemand without them the ecosystem wouldchange or sufferbeing omnivores bears also uh eatanimals and contribute to keeping animalpopulations under controlWatch at: 06:20 / 06:40without control other species could growto large numbers and over graze areasthat could decimate food sources forother animalsand decrease the biodiversity in theareabears in the north cascades tend to relymore on plants and berries andinsects and fish so there are moreberriesand bugs what a bear actually eatsWatch at: 06:40 / 07:00mainly depends on the habitat and whatfood sourceis available and when slide 4 pleaseconsequently bears are really miraclesof evolutionbears have adapted to survive harshwinters when food is scarcehave you ever been really really hungryWatch at: 07:00 / 07:20how did that make you feelwell bears do not eat or drink for theuh four to six months that they're inhibernationhibernation is basically a deep deepsleepslide five pleasebears often lift live off the stored fatWatch at: 07:20 / 07:40in their bodiesto help distort energy last longer abear's metabolic processslows down their breathing and heartrate slowwhile still maintaining body temperatureblack bears can lose up to 20 percent oftheir body weight during hibernationso just to give you an idea of the bodytemperatureWatch at: 07:40 / 08:00normal body temperature for a black bearis anywhere from 98.6 to about 100.4normal but they kind of maintain thatduring hibernationso the typical temperature for a bearblack bear during hibernation is 86 to97 degreesbut what is really really amazing isWatch at: 08:00 / 08:20that normally a barrett resttakes somewhere eight to twelve breathsper minuteand forty to eighty breaths per minutewhen it's overworked or looking for foodor runningbut during hibernation uh they onlybreathe one to two timesper minute now if you're a human and youonlybreathe uh four times a minute i thinkWatch at: 08:20 / 08:40that's pretty close to being legallydeadyou would be in trouble uh normallya bear's black bear's heartbeat is aboutsomewhere in the neighborhood of 84beats per minutebut during hibernation it slows down to19beats per minute this is how bears haveadaptedto surviveWatch at: 08:40 / 09:00excuse me just one second got a coffinspell hereso consequently bears are reallymiracles of evolutionthey've adapted to survive the veryharsh wintersso as you might imagine bears arefamished when they wake up in the springWatch at: 09:00 / 09:20can we go to slide number six pleasebears have little time to fatten upbefore the next hibernation cyclebears are like a garbage disposalthey'll eat almost anythingthis is how they gain their secondscientific name edibus almost anythingof usWatch at: 09:20 / 09:40that's just kind of a joke can we go tothevideo of the bear pleaseokay what bears eat and when depends onthe habitat and food sources availableat different times of the year in thespring bears enjoyinsects roots grubs and they scavenge onWatch at: 09:40 / 10:00carry-on and fishand small mammals and seeds and grassesin late summer when the berries are ripebears can be seen grazing on blueberriesor huckleberriesduring the fall bears eat nonstop theyhave to gain weight for winter andhibernationthis is called hyperphasia duringWatch at: 10:00 / 10:20hyperphasiabears in the north cascades eat a lot ofhuckleberriesthey need to take in about 20 000calories per day so that's kind of likeeatingseven huckleberry pies a day to keep upwith thatcaloric intake that they need so bearsoften get into troubleWatch at: 10:20 / 10:40when they go after human food slidenumber seven pleasehuman food is tasty and is often an easymealthanks to humans slide sevenhuman food has things in it that aretasty to us and to bearssuch as fats and sugars these processedWatch at: 10:40 / 11:00fats and sugars are no good for usand even worse for the bears but ittastes good and it's high in calorieshuman food also contains preservativessodiumhigh fructose corn syrup and otherthings that are not good for bears or usas well proper storage of food andattractants is essentialto a bear's survival whether by designWatch at: 11:00 / 11:20oraccident a fed bear is a dead bearbecause more often than nota food conditioned bear has to be killedi've made a short little video aboutcamping with bears in bear country tofurther educate you so if we could go tothat video pleasetherefore by reducing the access beersWatch at: 11:20 / 11:40have to human foodwe can keep bears healthier and make ourinteractionssafer with them when bears get humanfoodthey associate humans with food this iscalled food conditionedthese bears quickly become a problembecause they will do anything to gethuman foodincluding breaking into vehicles tentsand wandering into campsitesWatch at: 11:40 / 12:00and campgrounds in search of human foodbears can also become aggressive towardshumansa large percentage of bear attacks canbe traced back to bearsobtaining human food more often than notfood conditioned bears have to be killedthis is why we saya fed bear is a dead bear obviously weWatch at: 12:00 / 12:20do not want a bear to lose its life oversomething we have doneand consequently we do not want to beinjured or lose our life over somethingthat weor other humans have done the key tonegative bear encounters is preventionbears are attracted to anything thatsmells that includes foodcosmetics petroleum products toothpasteWatch at: 12:20 / 12:40deodorant soap and even washed disheshere are some tips for storing food infront country established campgroundsuse bear proof boxes or a hard sidedcamper or a vehicle to store these kindsof itemskeep your campsite clean and properlystore garbageWatch at: 12:40 / 13:00food storage in our back countrycampsites can be a bit more challengingbare food storage boxes are provided insome of our back country campsiteshowever bear canisters are required insome backcountry sitesand cross-country zones you are welcometo bring your own canisteras long as it's on the approved list bythe interagency grizzly bear committeeWatch at: 13:00 / 13:20when bear canisters are not requiredhanging food from a treeis a great way to keep food out of themouths of bearsproper hanging requires the food be hungat least 12 feet above the groundand at least 5 feet on the limb awayfrom the tree trunkremember to bring at least 50 feet ofrope with you to accomplish thisWatch at: 13:20 / 13:40never store your food in or around yourtent whether attended or unattendedthe campsite triangle is a great way toset up camp for safetybasically your tent your food yourcooking area are set up in a triangle100 yards apart however this may not befeasible in all backcountry campsitesWatch at: 13:40 / 14:00for more information on camping and bearcountry please visitwww.npsdot gov backslash nokafour all right slide number eight pleaseWatch at: 14:00 / 14:20okay let's take another poll to get youguys interactive hereum can we bring up the poll pleaseso where is the largest concentration ofblack bears in the lower 48.so our choices are north cascades inwashingtonyellowstone national park in wyomingWatch at: 14:20 / 14:40the great smoky mountains in northcarolina orthe albemarle pamlico peninsula in northcarolinaor the catskill mountains in new york soagain we'll give you about 20 or 30seconds to complete this pollWatch at: 14:40 / 15:00all right let's see what we've got hereso for the north cascades we have 34percent of you saying that's where theWatch at: 15:00 / 15:20largest concentration isand 40 said yellowstone wowuh the great smoky mountains in northcarolina is 22 percentuh the albemarle pamlico sound in northcarolina two percentand the catskill mountains new york istwo percent as wellwell the answer to that is albemarleWatch at: 15:20 / 15:40pamlico soundin coastal north carolina that is kindof amazing i used to work near there andhatecape hatteras and that's kind of a funlittle fact that i learneduh while visiting over there in the uhalligator river national refugeall right so can we go to the next slidepleaseum slide number nineWatch at: 15:40 / 16:00all right we need to keep ourselves safein bear country as we rerecreate there are several things we cando to preventa bear attack or a negative encounter bya bear your chance of being attacked bya bearis extremely rare uh more people dieabout bee stings in the united statesWatch at: 16:00 / 16:19than they doof bear attacks every year so there'sseveral things we can do to keepourselves safeone we can hike in groups of four morein north americathere's never been a bear attack of agroup of four morethis is because bears can better hearand smell youand large groups or intimidatedWatch at: 16:19 / 16:40intimidate bearsso carry bear spray it's kind of apersonal choice here in the northcarolinacascades uh my point of view it's betterto have it and not need it than to needit and not have itbut you never know that's totally up toyou it's not a rule it's not arequirementso if you do carry bear spray you wantto be familiar with it you want toWatch at: 16:40 / 17:00practice getting it out of the holsteryou want to read the instructions bearspray is a type of pepperpepper spray that uses an activeingredient ofground cayenne peppers it's called oleoresincapsicum it is generally in lowerconcentrations in that of bear sprayor pepper spray used in self defenseWatch at: 17:00 / 17:20bear spray has typically 1.8 to 2percent oleo resin capsicum in itand bear spray makes it very difficultfor the bear to breatheit affects the mucous membranes and itstings like heckso we don't want to incapacitate thebear with a higher concentration we justwant it to go awayWatch at: 17:20 / 17:40so bear spray is also 90 percenteffective can we go to slide 10 pleaseso when you're hiking it's very veryimportant to make lots of noiseso you don't surprise a bear or triggeran attackso if the trail is windy and you'recoming around the corner you don't wantto surprise that bear thereWatch at: 17:40 / 18:00bears gener in general want to get awayfrom peopleif they hear you coming from a distanceit gives a bear time to get awaynow you see a lot of people on thehiking trails using bear bellsthese are not sufficient number one theydon't make enough noisebelt bear belt can't speak today bearbellsWatch at: 18:00 / 18:20are discouraged because bears have comeaccustomed to hearing these bellson hikers and they associate that withfood in a backpackso it's kind of like ringing the dinnerbell so you definitely don't want to usethoseso you want to talk loud you want toshout you can clap your hands whenyou're walking say hey bear hey bearWatch at: 18:20 / 18:40or you can sing a song very loudly oneof my friendsranger ranger paisley has came up with abear song and we've got a little videoof her bear song so if we could go tothe video pleasehey bear ho bear what you gonnado i'm here you're thereWatch at: 18:40 / 19:00i'm just passing through hey bear hobear such a lovely day this is your landiunderstand and i'll be on my wayokay slide number 11. uh it'sWatch at: 19:00 / 19:20it's important to keep your distancefrom a bear a good rule of thumbis to stay at least 100 yards awaylet's take another pollokay so how fast do you think a footballWatch at: 19:20 / 19:40player can run100 yards is it 10 seconds15 18 or 21and again we'll give you 20 30 secondsWatch at: 19:40 / 20:00all right for the 10 seconds 22 percentof you said 10 secondsWatch at: 20:00 / 20:2031 said 15. 26 percent said 18seconds and 20 said 21 secondsso bears can charge up to 35 miles anhourand the reason we ask you this isbecause a football field is about 100yardsWatch at: 20:20 / 20:40right and we're recommending that youstay at least 100 yardsaway from bears and the reason is theanswer to that poll by the way isanywhere from 10to 15 seconds so i think the fastestfootball returnat 105 yards was like 10.8 secondssomething like that well at 100 yards abearcan charge at 35 miles an hour he canWatch at: 20:40 / 21:00cover thatin 5.8 seconds the point beingnumber one don't run from bears he'sgonna outrun you uhnumber two that hundred yards distant isthe point we're trying to makeso if you're 100 yards from a bear and abear does charge you you've got 5.8secondsto do something about it or think aboutWatch at: 21:00 / 21:20what you're going to do or to get yourbear spray out rightso if you're less than 100 yards sayyou're 50 yardsthen you've got half a time half thetime so you've got something like 2.8seconds to 3 secondsto figure out what you're going to do soit's very important to give bears theirspaceand when you're around bears you want toWatch at: 21:20 / 21:40avoid crowding around bears to takephotos and things like that the bearneeds an escape route and if the beardoesn't have escape routeit could feel pretty threatened sothat's the reason we recommend 100 yardsand by the way photographers have a veryhigh rate ofbear attacks because they get too closeto take a photoWatch at: 21:40 / 22:00just remember that photo is not worthyou getting injured overand it's not worth the bear or the beargetting injured or killed over as wellso can we go to uh slide number 12pleaseit's important to be aware of yoursurroundings if you see cubsmama bear is not far away watch andWatch at: 22:00 / 22:20smell for dead animal carcasses in thearea that bears may feed uponlook for a congregation of vultures orcrows or ravens in the areaagain that's a sign that there's acarcass in the area bears are very veryprotectiveof their food uh very important keepyour pets on a leashand keep young children near you can weWatch at: 22:20 / 22:40go to slide number 13pleaseokay running and bicycling in bearcountryare not good activities for severalreasonsnumber one you're moving way too fast tobe awareof your surroundings situationalawareness rightWatch at: 22:40 / 23:00uh also bears have a predatory preychase instinct so when you're running bythe bear what does the bear think itthinks your preyso it's not a good idea to go running orjogging on trailsuh in light of doing all the rightthings to keep ourselves safewhat do we do when we encounter a bearWatch at: 23:00 / 23:20can we go toslide number 14 pleaseokay thank you if you encounter a bearand it doesn't see you or doesn't seemto notice youuh just back away and go in the oppositedirection that you cameif the bear does notice you pull outWatch at: 23:20 / 23:40your bear sprayand have it ready carry your bear spraywhere it's readyuh readily accessible in the backpackreally doesn't workif you see the bear and it's looks likeit's going to charge you you can't saytimeout mr bearlet me get my backpack off and look formy bear sprayon your side in a holster is a goodplace to carry itWatch at: 23:40 / 24:00uh like we just illustrated bear attacksor charges can happen in seconds andyou'll not have a whole lot of timeso if you're in that group of uh or anygroup whether it's four or more or notyou want to group together and you wantto wave your hands in the airthis lets the bear know you're humannothing else in the forestwaves its arms like humans do rightWatch at: 24:00 / 24:20and we want to speak gently to the bearhey mr bear hey miss bear we're herewe're backing upwe're trying to get out of the areadon't mess with usand waving your arms also makes you lookbiggerum you could say something like you backup please mr bearnice bear good bear and back away neverWatch at: 24:20 / 24:40ever turn your back on a bearand absolutely do not run like we saidthat triggers the instinct in the bearthe predatory prey instinctslide 15 pleaseso there are two types of bear behaviorswe have to be concerned withduring a bear encounter the type ofWatch at: 24:40 / 25:00behavior will dictatehow you should react the first type ofbehavioris called a defensive bear this is abear that just wants you out of the areaum it may have cubs it may be defendinga food sourceor maybe it just wants to show itsdominancethis type of bear typically doesn'tWatch at: 25:00 / 25:20won't want to harm youit just perceives you as a threat and itwants you out of the wayslide number 16 pleasethe second type of bear behavior we needto be concerned with is predatory bearbehavior sometimes called a curious beara high percentage of predatory bearattacks areusually perpetrated by human habituatedWatch at: 25:20 / 25:40or food conditioned bearsthis is why it's extremely importantthat no bear receivehuman food predatory as well asdefensive bears can be any bear specieshowever a large percentage of predatorybear attacks are perpetrated by blackbearshowever black bears are usually lessWatch at: 25:40 / 26:00aggressive than otherthan other types of north american bearscase studies have shown that people whoknew the difference between a defensivebearencounter versus a predatory bearencounter and acted accordingly hadlesser injuries during theencounter this is why it's extremelyimportant to be able todistinguish a defensive bear from aWatch at: 26:00 / 26:20predatory bearfor more information about this we don'thave a lot of time to go into it todayyou can visit our website at www.nps.govbackslash noka and we're going to havethose websites up here for you in asecondWatch at: 26:20 / 26:40so go to uh slide number 17 pleaseall right to summarize bears areinteresting creatures that liven up thelandscapemost people enjoy seeing bears on a tripto a national parknot only are bears important to us butthey're very important to the ecosystemin which they live it is up to each andWatch at: 26:40 / 27:00every one of usto do our part to keep wild bears wildand not condition them to human foodthis is for the survival of the bear andthe ecosystemand thus the health of our nationalparks if you encounter a bear in thenorth cascades complexplease report it to arranger or give usa callat 360-854-7200Watch at: 27:00 / 27:20or you can shoot us an email at nokaunderscore information at nps.govthese reports help us to identify whatbearsuh or where in the park and if bears aregetting too close to humans andWatch at: 27:20 / 27:40campsitesit's also to document their behavior forfuture bear management strategiesso as we've discussed bears often haveto be killed due to mistakes orcarelessnessby humans i'd like to leave you with afinal thoughthow would you feel if you knew you wereresponsible for the death of a bearWatch at: 27:40 / 28:00all right we're going to take somequestions out now we may not be able toget to everyone's questionbut you had my personal nps address upthereand you can email me with that and justremember we're talking about bears andbear behavior i'm not a bear biologistbut i'll try to answer any questionsthat you may havethanks dave nice job very interestingWatch at: 28:00 / 28:20few comments before i jump in here folksif you have questions you'd like to askdaveplease enter them into the q a box downat the bottomand we'll get to them a few comments foryou davei thought it was fascinating that bearsbreatheone to two times a minute duringhibernationWatch at: 28:20 / 28:40that's just remarkable yeah it isthey're miracles of evolution no kiddingthey've adapted to surviveyes our bear boxes you may have saidthis that i may have missed it are bearboxes requiredup in north cascades national park uhnot bare boxes per se but safe foodWatch at: 28:40 / 29:00storagesand some of our front country campsiteswe uhprovide bear boxes and in the backcountry even some of those sites havebear boxesand in certain cross country sections uhwewhen you're in the back country werequire that youcarry uh bear canisters and as of nowWatch at: 29:00 / 29:20you can get those at the wildernessinformation centerdown in marble mount where you get yourpermit fromgreat thank you i while you were talkingi looked online atrei just to get a sense of what a bearboxcost for people's information and it'sanywhere from like 70 to 80depending on the size and they have aWatch at: 29:20 / 29:40niceuh bear canister basics videoon their site so if folks want to hearrightif they want to learn more about thati'm going to go to some of the q and a'sthat have come inuh we don't typically carry bear sprayfor one of our guestswhile hiking in the central cascades whyWatch at: 29:40 / 30:00notand should we when hikinguh well that is a personal choice umit's a safety thingas i said um my point of view working inbear country for many yearsyou know i've worked places likeyellowstone and you don't go take yourgarbage out without bear sprayso maybe it's just ranger days andWatch at: 30:00 / 30:20ranger dave's habit to carry it whenhe's out hikingbut it's a personal choice of yourslike i said there's never been a bearattack in the north cascadesand your chances of getting attackedwere extremely rare you've probably gota better chanceof getting in a car accident but wouldyou want to be in your car without aWatch at: 30:20 / 30:40seat beltdave tell us about the idea of playingdeaduh during a bear encounter you know whatyour thoughts areand i know there have been some thingsthat have gone on a couple of thingsover at glacier where you mentioned uhrunning and biking people have run intoWatch at: 30:40 / 31:00bears and had serious encounters whatare your comments on how to play deadwell sure i can comment on that uh as isaid earlieryou can go to our website and it'll giveyou further informationbut playing dead or fighting backdependson what type of bear you're going toWatch at: 31:00 / 31:20encounter soyou do not want to play dead with apredatory bear uh but with a defensivebearyou do want to play dead and a defensivebear will talk to youit'll uh growl it'll huff it'll puffit'll make jaw popping soundsit may pull the ground or slap treeslike i said this animal is defendingcubs or a carcass or just wants to showWatch at: 31:20 / 31:40its dominance and want you out of theareaso you would treat that kind of bearboth predatoryand defensive kind of the same at thispoint you would group up into a groupyou would get your bear spray outand most of the time it's going to bevery unlikelythat that bear is going to actually hityou and knock you down it may charge youWatch at: 31:40 / 32:00and veer off at the last secondwe call that a bluff charge but if adefensive bearthat's doing these things i justdescribed hits you and knocks you downyou do want to play dead if you haveyour backpack on you want to keep thatonthis is going to protect your back youwant to lay flat on your stomach this isWatch at: 32:00 / 32:20going to protect yourvital organs and you want to interlockyour hands behind your uhneck this is going to protect yourvertebrae right hereand play dead studies have showncase study after case study that theperson who plays dead during a defensivebear attacktheir injuries are going to be way lessWatch at: 32:20 / 32:39as opposed to fighting backthat's a tough one kind of it's easy tosaybut if i'm out there uh well that'sgoing to be hard to doone of our guests wants you to repeatwhat you said aboutbear bells and their their effectivenesscan you go back to that yeah bear bellsWatch at: 32:39 / 33:00are not loud enoughthey sound pretty it sounds like santaclaus is coming through the forest withhis eight tiny reindeer you know thesleigh bellsuh but they just don't project enoughnoise like we said clap your handsand say hey bear hey bear or singpaisley songyou can go back and re-watch this andlearn her songbut it's my understanding that someWatch at: 33:00 / 33:20places are starting to banbear bells because they bears willassociatethose bells with humans and food in thebackpackso it's kind of like ringing a dinnerbellinteresting we have a question from asix-year-old who's with us todayokay great yeah she wants to know umWatch at: 33:20 / 33:39how in the heck can a bear run across afootball fieldin five seconds with all of those treeswell typically bears are not always intreesour black bears they do like the forestthat is their habitats where other bearslikeplain open areas uh but you know youWatch at: 33:39 / 34:00could be on a trail that'shas an open space of over 100 yardswhere there's obviously no trees growingon the trailor you could be in a mountain meadowwhere there are no trees uh but bearsarereally really fast they can charge up to35 miles an houror better it's remarkable if you're inWatch at: 34:00 / 34:20the back country and you have one of thecanisters how do you store itwhere what are your comments about whatwhere to put themokay there's several things uh you cando definitely do not put it in the tentwith youbelieve it or not bears have a very goodsense of smelland they can smell right through thosebear canisters so i would store it awayWatch at: 34:20 / 34:40from my tentas you saw in the video that i madeuh the bermuda bermuda triangle is kindof a triangle where you have your tentset up hereand down here is your cooking area andon the other enddownwind from your tent is where youstore yourbear canister and if you can put thatbear canister in your backpackWatch at: 34:40 / 35:00and hoisted up a tree at least five feetaway from the trunkand at least 12 feet off the ground thatwould be idealthank you dave you've talked a littlebit aboutpredatory predatory versus defensivewhat's the difference how do we knowWatch at: 35:00 / 35:20uh well i think we've already gone overwhat a defensive bear will do it'll talkto you it'll make noise it may growlhuff puff it'suh hair may stand up on the back of itsneck its ears may be laid back as welljust kind of like an angry dog you wouldsee in the neighborhood a good analogyif you're walking through yourneighbor's dogyard and it's dog starts growling at youWatch at: 35:20 / 35:40and his ears are backthat's a defensive dog that wants youout of the area it's territorial rightso the other type of bear it's not goingto do any of those thingsit's going to walk around it's going tolook at you it's going to follow you onthe trailit's going to have no fear of you sothat's how you would tell the differenceWatch at: 35:40 / 36:00i was hiking just outside of colonialcreek by myselfone day a couple years ago and went uprain rainy past rainy lake and came backdown andwas wandering right along the beautifulcreek thereand uh i came around the corner and aWatch at: 36:00 / 36:20black bear wasjust like 10 feet from me and he was asstartledas i was you could see it he just kindof reared backand turned and ran the other way boyi'll tell you that got my attentionoh yeah that's why you make a lot ofnoises because you can't see around thetrail sometimesthat's right uh let me look at a fewmore questions here dave hold on just aWatch at: 36:20 / 36:40secokay thanks uh when you see a bearif you are in a situation where you seea bearattacking someone what do you suggestuh yeah we would probably need a littlebit more information on thatum it was did you get there in time tosee the bearWatch at: 36:40 / 37:00um you know what it was doing i wouldprobably sayif you've got bear spray on youdefinitely go help out the person with abear sprayuh just remember where you're sprayingit and what direction the wind isblowing inunfortunately the victim in all thisthey may get the brunt into the bearspray as welli've been sprayed by the pepper sprayWatch at: 37:00 / 37:20several timesum it is pretty bad it's uncomfortablebut it's uhbetter than you know the alternative soi would say if you sawa person just knowing just thatinformation only and there's a lot ofvariables that go into thatso just based on the information i'mcoming around the corner somebody'sbeing attacked with aWatch at: 37:20 / 37:40bob bear if i've got a bear spray i'mgoing to use itif i have a group of people we're goingto group together we're going to hollerwe're going to shoutwe can throw rocks and sticks at thebear just be careful not to hit theperson butthen again that may be better than thealternative uh so just make a lot ofnoiseuh and try and get the bear off theWatch at: 37:40 / 38:00purse the last thing you want to do isthat bear coming towards youbut typically if you have a large groupand the bear feels threateneduh it's going to go awayi'm moving away now from the q a to thechat box we have a number of questionsthere toodave so okay uh let's see what type offishWatch at: 38:00 / 38:20do bears eat and what do you know abouttheir eatinghabits and i know you mentioned berriesuhcan you tell us more uh yeahso uh mainly our bears and northcascadeseat um mainly bugs and berries uh theydo eat fishwe do have runs of salmon that come upWatch at: 38:20 / 38:40the skagit river and some of thetributaries thereand so it's kind of an opportunopportunity for bearsif they're able to catch those salmonand those fishtheir chances are probably a little bitbetter with salmon because they runin tight groups whereas you know ifyou've got rainbow or cutthroat troutWatch at: 38:40 / 39:00there may be one or two of those you seeat a timebut when you've got a whole school offish coming up it'skind of easier to pluck a fish out likethat but typically that's not what theyeat but they do get those hereand it depends on the time of year andwhat salmon are running i think we haveall five species of salmonthat run up this gadget here you folksWatch at: 39:00 / 39:20are asking aboutloud whistles or the air hornsdo you have comments about theeffectiveness of them startling the bearaway from you oh yeah that is a verygood question ithank you for asking that question iwould not walk through the woodsuh blowing a whistle you know clap singWatch at: 39:20 / 39:40the song uh a whistle is very intrusiveuh you're supposed to be in wildernessand it's just way too loudyeah will the bear probably hear youcome in with that yeah for about threemiles awayuh the air horns i do not recommend andthe reason i don't recommend air homeair horns is that i'm a boat owner and iWatch at: 39:40 / 40:00used to have an air hornon the boat and what i found out thoseair horns if a bear is charging youthey are very very unreliable half thetime they don't workbear spray has been proven to be 90percenteffective uh and there is no data on theair horns so make loud noises clap likei saidsing a song but as far as going throughWatch at: 40:00 / 40:20the forestblasting an air horn i don't think yourfellow hikers would be very very happywith youuh we have a six-year-old who has a veryunique question very very goodquestion can bear tea underwateri'm sorry what was the question canbearsWatch at: 40:20 / 40:40see underwater i don't know i'll just behonest with youi imagine they're mammals and they doswimuh so i'd imagine they would be like usif we're uh stick our head under thewateryeah you can see but it's gonna beblurry that's why when we scuba dive orskin dive we have a mask to put thatarab area air barrier between our eyesWatch at: 40:40 / 41:00and the water and we can see in focusso yes i would assume they could butprobably not very welli mean i can't see well underwater noteven in a clear swimming poolsomeone's wondering about urban bearsand we seequite a bit of that now as as populationspreads can you canWatch at: 41:00 / 41:20is there any difference between theirbehavior andbears in the wildernessuh yes i would say your urban bearprobably uh has lost its fear of humansbecause it's coming intoour habitat and it's looking for humanfoodi don't know in particular what type ofWatch at: 41:20 / 41:40urban area you're talking about whetherit's a suburb or a city i know coyotesget in the city as wellbut when they're in there they don'thave a whole lot of their natural foodsthat they would be eating so these bearsare typically removed from urban areasthey try and trap them and take them andput them back in the wildWatch at: 41:40 / 42:00okay and this is an interesting questionyou said that bears it's amazing to toknow that bears eat insects and berriesit's like how do theyamass the weight that they need but theydodo bears eat um like catsWatch at: 42:00 / 42:20someone's wondering bears can eat catsor will they eat small yeah yeah yeahthey uhcats are kind of hard to catch i guessif you could catch one and the bear washungry yeahbut i don't see a lot of cats runningaround out here in the forestprobably in an urban area but no ourbears here in north cascadeWatch at: 42:20 / 42:40small mammals they like to eat groundsquirrels as wellso some like chipmunks things like thatthey'll burrow and you can see bearsdigging in the ground for thoseand if the bear can catch those butthey're kind of hard to catchso our black bears here it's mainly justbugs berriesroots grubs grasses seeds things likethatWatch at: 42:40 / 43:00pine cones the pine seeds from pineconesone of our guests shares that inrelation tobear canisters you can rent them fromascent outdoors in ballard for eightdollars a nightnice savings there so thank you for thattip and i know you addressed this butone more time we want to ask is a brownWatch at: 43:00 / 43:20bear the same as a black bearno brown bear is another name foranothernorth american species of bear uh andbrown bear typically comes fromalaska they're the same as the grizzlybears that they have in alaska but abrown bear is typically a coastal bearWatch at: 43:20 / 43:40like from kodiak island or somethinglike thatbut they call all bears in alaska brownbears except for black bears and polarbears of courseand your brown bears get a little largerbecause they are at the coastand they do eat a lot of salmon sothey've got that a high protein dietso brown bears are typically a littlebiggerWatch at: 43:40 / 44:00but no a black bear is a species and itcan be brownblack cinnamon dark brown but it'sdifferent than that other speciesthank you and one more question i knowyou talked a little bit about this butsomeone's wondering again where is thegreatest concentrationof black bears bears in theunited states okay it's in northWatch at: 44:00 / 44:20carolina on the coast it's albemarlepamlico peninsula so it's a littlepeninsula that sticks outand hide in washington county in northcarolina and the outer banks are 30miles out in the oceanpast that so it's right there on thatlittle peninsulaand that's where the greatestconcentration of black bears areWatch at: 44:20 / 44:40and the lower 48 i know some bearbiologists in north carolinasay in the world but i'm just stickingwith the lower 48 todayit's interesting that so many peoplethought it was yellowstone and i youknow just hearkening to the mediacoverage that we see of wildlife inyellowstone andthe encounters that take place i want toWatch at: 44:40 / 45:00thank you dave this has been reallyterrific today andi know this is a an important topic forall of usand and beautiful creatures and yetdeserve all the respect in the world uhas we begin to wrap up i want to mentionthat in the upcoming weeks to everyonewe are going to have a bird songs in theWatch at: 45:00 / 45:20north cascades two weeks from todaywe've gone to every other week nowin the fall so tune in for that you canlearn more aboutthe upcoming uh virtual field trips onour websitethere's some information there aboutwhat we've done over the past yearcouple years at for the national parksthat we have theWatch at: 45:20 / 45:40privilege of serving finally i just wantto thank you again dave you did aterrific job veryvery informative and i want to thanksharon in the background for all thework that she doesevery every week for these virtual fieldtrips sothanks everyone have a great afternoonthanks for joining ustake good care