I commend the Chilkat Valley News on its sidebar explaining what a “habituated” bear is—the term is often misunderstood. To recap, habituation is a process where an animal’s or person’s response to a particular stimulus becomes neutralized over time based on past experience. Habituation is neither good nor bad, and it is an ongoing process. A bear’s response to people may continue to change as its experience with people changes.
Problems occur when bears become human food-conditioned, meaning that they learn to associate people and our homes, vehicles, coolers, and campsites with an easy meal. Habituation to humans may result in bears becoming more vulnerable to food-conditioning in some cases, but this can be prevented when people secure food, garbage, and other bear attractants (anything with an odor) so bears aren’t rewarded when they investigate smells.
Safe, well-managed bear-viewing sites function when bears are habituated to humans without becoming food-conditioned, as is the case at Anan Wildlife Observatory, McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, and Katmai National Park. Alaska State Parks fails to protect the safety of both humans and wildlife on the Chilkoot River Corridor. Chilkoot presents challenges because, unlike most designated bear-viewing sites, it’s not located remotely.
Alaska State Parks has a responsibility to manage the Chilkoot River Corridor for our mutual safety by managing bear attractants and human behavior. The simple solution is for Parks to implement rules and enforce them consistently. Otherwise, Alaska State Parks will continue to fail our community, our visitors, and the bears.
Shannon Donahue, Executive Director, Great Bear Foundation