Bear Crossing

[peewee]

What the problem with reintroducing the Black Bear into MS.

Here is what I was told by Jake Bowman several of you should know him. He did some research with the bears.

The White River NWR is getting over populated with them. So why not transport some females to DNF. Well the American Black Bear (Ursus Americanus) occupies the WRNWR. Supposively MS had the Louisiana Black Bear (Ursus Americanus leteolus). So they didn't want to bring in a supposively exotic species.

So why not bring in some from Tensas. Tensas has the Louisiana black bear. Oops, back in the days (not sure how far back) Tensas bear numbers were really low. So guess what La. does. They introduce some bears from Arkansas , from the American Black Bear species. Now you got Louisiana Black Bear mixed with the American Black Bear. Cant bring those in either. The majority of bears we have in MS are young dispersing males from Tensas or White River NWR. Any females should be cheerished and as far as I concerned rednecks (or idiots) caught shooting them should be hung.

Some others say we dont have the land base to introduce the bears. Now that Lake George connects Panther Swamp to DNF that dont hold water. Especially with Mahannna right down the road. If Mahanna was directly connected to DNF with a wildlife corridor up to 61 this would make a connected corridor to Greenville, MS.

Bottom line its all about a bunch of B.S. politics and public opinion.

[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: peewee ]

[peewee]

Oh yeah whats the difference b/w the La. Black Bear and the American Black Bear.

If I remember correctly La. is a bit smaller with a little different skull shape. It may be more slanted or something cant remember exactly off the top of my head.

I dream of the day (oneday) that I could sit in a deer stand or duck blind and watch one of these creatures. Wouldn't that be awesome.

[duforester]

Peewee: I think you are correct about the difference between the 2 species. As far as sitting in a tree stand and seeing a bear, it is very exciting. I have seen bears on 2 different occasions while deer hunting at my uncle's camp which borders the White River National Refuge.

[peewee]

duforester what you been up too. Are you still working at state. Maybe this hunting season we can hook up. Oh yeah, good old polky is geeting married this weekend in Tuscaloosa. I got to meet his future bride during turkey season this year. She seems like a real good girl.

[Waboduck]

These are some excellant posts. I have really been impressed with the knowledge that many of you have about wild animals and their conservation.
I am also a pilot and have flown many hrs over south MS (low and slow in an Aeronca Champ). I can clearly see that south MS has the land to support bears but I don't have enough knowledge of the delta to comment there. It has been interesting to hear of so many sightings and the work done to re-introduce bears into MS.

[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: Waboduck ]

[Wingman]

I have always heard that there aren't enough den trees in the Delta. All of the old, big trees that might make good dens have been cut in years past and there just aren't enough for a sustainable population of bears.

Wingman
ISAIAH 40:31

[Double_R]

Bears have been dropped off in hopes of locating them in several spots around the Delta with poor success. Every bear dropped off at Dahomey has hightailed it oughtta there. Thier home range and life requirements are enormous. Den trees may be a limiting factor, but I saw a picture last week where a female had ax=ctually made a nest of sorts in the crotch of a tree during high water, first documented of that.

It may be that reintroduction is not as necessary as is patience - that area referenced in the south delta is among the largest nearly contiguous tract of remaining and restored bottomland hardwood habitat in the Mississippi delta - about 250,000 acres! That includes DNF, Mahanna, Yazoo, Panther, Sunflower, Twin Oaks, Lake George and one helluva lot of private land WRP, CRP, FWS Partner's program, etc. I've seen it all laid out on an aerial image and it's simply incredible, the best use of our tax dollars I may ever have seen. I'd guess that once that stuff gets "right" for bears, they'll find it and make use of it.

[Meeka]

Double R, I'm no forrestry or animal expert, but concerning the point that the lack of den trees may prohibit reintroduction of bears in the South Delta area, yeah, there is a whole lotta land there but I can tell you that they cut in rotating tracts in the DNF and in Panther Swamp. That decision to cut is a defensible position cause it nets revenue and the cutovers actually help some wildlife. Bears, I dunno.

Maybe SB will weigh in. I'm kinda curious on how the tree harvest programs are designed to work and what the predicted effect on different species is.

I'm kinda against them cutting in those bottomland hardwood tracts on sentimental grounds. The den theory gives me more reason to disfavor the cutting activity.

By the way, not to stir up too much poop, but the previous administration was against roadbuilding in the forrests and probably was not too keen on the cutting. I know they were against cutting in other areas.

The current administration that almost everyone on this board favors, now that is another story. Me, I'm for the bears and trees. I guess that makes me a "tree-hugging liberal". So be it. I'm also for the ducks having as much water as nature will allow, and then some. I'm for leaving certain critical areas as close to the way the Lord intended them as possible. The bears were here when it was that way.

[SB]

Den trees can be important, but they are not a limiting factor. Tom White,an MSU PhD student in the mid 90's, did a lot of research on black bears on Big Island and Montgomery Island. These islands lie where the MS and White River come together. They have a tremendous bear population. He found out through his research that bears in the south will most often use ground nests. These will usually occur in a tree top. He documented them using recently felled trees of Anderson-Tully's timber harvest operations. Timber harvest isn't bad for the bears. One of the most populated private lands, bear wise, in the South Delta is on a 10 year cutting rotation. Meaning that from the time the seedling is planted to harvest is 10 years. The bears don't seem to care. Everything is good in moderation though.

There have been sightings all through the South Delta including: Mahannah WMA,Lake George WMA, Delta National Forest (Sunflower WMA), Panther Swamp NWR along with many private lands.

If you do see a bear please notify the MDWFP of its approximate location. We like to track them the best that we can.

[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: SB ]

[Delta Duck]

Seen one south of the house about 1 mile and seen one more of them little black bears about 1.5 miles NW of the house. Both were small. I've shoot wild boar that were larger.
I think I've got a beaver next to the house that was as big as the bears.

[Meeka]

Thanks Sb. As usual, you have shed a great deal of light on the subject.

Can you explain to a non-timber person what the timber harvest strategy is on DNF, and Panther, if you know? Thanks.

[peewee]

From what I have seen in the past few years at DNF they have been doing some patch clear cutting and a few select cuts. What they are trying to accomplish is some diversity I would imagine and trying to improve the overall health of some of the timber stands. They may say its for economic reason also. Have you ever seen some of those huge sweetgums stands they have up there. They just waiting for a strong wind to take them out. So the thought process should be lets go in take some out and set back succession and make some money at the same time.

[ June 13, 2002: Message edited by: peewee ]

[Double_R]

Federal agencies are under mandate to manage timber to accomplish multi-resource objectives, not the least of which is wildlife. The Fish and Wildlife Service, for example, manages forested habitats to achieve outputs specific to trust species - in rank order endangered or threatened, migratory, and finally, native wildlife species - which includes plants (such as the endangered pondberry) in addition to animals. Sometimes, but by no means always, this goal may conflict with purely economic outputs. This is the true significance of the Highway 82 demarcation between endangered and non-endangered black bear - south of that line, management for black bear will take precedence on refuges, whereas north of that line black bear will management will more closely resemble management of native wildlife.

Those giant redgums up at DNF were established long before the mainline river levee and are awesome. Because they've laid heartwood, they're also valuable - once heard that timber buyers from as far as Italy bid on the few stems they've cut!

[Hammer]

Hey PeeWee:

I'm not in favor of cutting the gums since that area is so unique and gives us an idea of what the Delta was like not too long ago (ever seen those old pictures of timber camps in DNF...Unbelievable!) but I think once the trees hit the ground, they are fair game...

Double R is right again in that the lumber is very valuable making pulling them out of there with helicopter very feasible, which does minimal damage to the woods.

HAMMER