How many brown bears live in the Haines and Skagway Boroughs? No one really knows.
Consequently, an advisory committee decided Wednesday to ask the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to find out.
The Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Committee is sending that request to the state.
The request leaves the details of such a study – like the time frame and the method of counting bears – up to the state. The amount of available state money could affect how the study would be conducted, said Carl Koch, a wildlife biologist with the department.
The last Haines-related bear study took place in the 1990s with an estimated 520 bears, said committee member Ryan Cook.
Committee members noted that the state recently finished a three-year study of bears in the Yakutat area. That study found fewer bears than what was expected, the