Implement bear hair snare study coupled with camera traps across a randomized block design to gain more information about bear populations. Management: Perform outreach with hunters and the public to foster a stronger tagging and reporting system. Install preventative measures, such as fencing, for nuisance bear issues when warranted. Results and Discussion for Information Transfer and Processing Research: Hair collected from bear hair study across two years resulted in demographic data from 26 individuals and 3 family groups. 25 bear teeth collected from 2015-2022 were sent for aging analysis. Perform analyses on bear hair study data to work towards peer reviewed publication. Management, Social & Cultural: Volunteer participation in hunter harvest tooth collection was very low (n = 2). Human-wildlife conflicts occur mostly near trashcans. Worked with over 14 landowners regarding nuisance bear issues and property access for bear hair study. We leverage private land-owner access to maintain hair snares and camera traps. We inform these citizens across almost 20 sites about the presence of bears and other species, providing them images and data.
Adaptive Decision for 2023
Management or Methodological Changes: Expand bear hair snare study to include 20 randomized sites. Continue to explore photo and hair data to determine the effect of human
presence/development on bear activity, number of bears per season, and bear movement. Use hair snare study and camera trapping to help evaluate human-wildlife conflicts. Work more with NRE to get more samples from nuisance bears. Evaluate effectiveness of preventative measures & explore alternatives. Increase hunter participation in harvest reporting. Work with sanitation to inquire about bear-proof trashcans. Social & Cultural Changes: Determine if increase in prize money will increase hunter participation. Communicate with the public about bear safety, reduced feeding opportunities, & hunter participation. Propose changes to the Tribal Code regarding tagging and reporting harvest of black bears.
Partners: EBCI Natural Resource Enforcement (NRE), North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), Western Carolina University (WCU), Matson’s Laboratory
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