More than 50 bear enthusiasts got to track local brown bears’ travel across the valley and beyond during an Alaska Department of Fish and Game presentation this week.

Fish and Game biologist Anthony Crupi spoke to the group at the public library Tuesday evening about the latest data collected in his study on local bear populations.

Biologists began collaring and tracking bears in 2018. On Aug. 31 at 8 a.m., the time-released collars fell from the bears Crupi and his colleague collared last summer. They have data from 58,000 locations of eight females and four males as they’ve denned, eaten and traveled across the valley.

Crupi showed time lapsed video of colored dots, representing each bear moving across the valley. Two bears made transboundary trips into Canada and back this summer. Others spent a significant amount of time in the alpine snacking on blueberries. One time lapse showed a bear making a trip from the Chilkoot River area to town and back. Crupi noted the diet between salmon and blueberries and the time they spend in each feeding area.

“Some days they’re up and some they’re down. They’re really making big movements and it’s interesting to be able to track that. Seasonal variation between habitat types is very interesting as they transition from berries to salmon. A mixed diet is very important to be able to accumulate the fat they need during hibernation.”

Biologists can also use the data to see how long a bear spends in its den. One female bear, known as 233, entered her den on Oct. 18 and didn’t come out until June. Another bear that was captured and collared in town last summer denned in the Ferebee River valley. On May 8 she was feeding on eulachon along Lutak and on May 10 she was in Mud Bay eating herring.

“(All this) really highlights the important of Haines as a dynamic place,” Crupi said. “Our population is growing and their population is trying to learn how to weave between the cracks.”

Four collared bears died since they were collared last summer. Two were killed illegally. One was harvested in a hunt and one bear was killed by another bear.

“Bears are really rough on each other,” Crupi said. “We caught one last week that had two canine puncture holes in her head. I don’t know how she survived.”

Crupi and his colleague are now working on collaring a new set of bears to track over the coming year. The five-year study will help biologists learn more about the populations, and how to better manage it.

They’ve collared seven females and seven males so far.

Chilkoot Bear Foundation president Pam Randles has had interest in the study since it began. She attended Tuesday’s presentation. “I was very interested in all the data. I only know the three Chilkoot bears and now there’s more information on the range sizes and the seasonality,” Randles said. “It’s interesting to me. Bears are our neighbors, you know.”

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