Here is My Biology Blog: http://milesbio.blogspot.com/
Management Plan for Human-Bear Conflict
Bears conflicting with humans have become an important issue. The state of Colorado has already euthanized 20 bears this summer (Game 2012). Bears are eating trash, entering residential areas, and even attacking people. This is happening due to irresponsible waste management, development of houses, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and lack of natural food to do the climate (Bear 2012). Bears are mainly only a problem in mountain towns like Durango. Bear Smart Durango started in 2003 (Bear 2012) so around 2003 is when bears became a big enough problem in Durango that we had to start an organization to keep them under control. Bears are usually a problem in late summer and fall because that is when they need to find and eat a lot food so they can hibernate for winter. Involved in this issue is bears, humans, the Division of Wildlife, Bear Smart Durango, and Waste Management.
1. Mandate bear-proof trash cans within Durango city limits
A. Details
- Bears are eating trash, entering residential areas, and even attacking people. This is happening due to irresponsible waste management, development of houses, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and lack of natural food to do the climate (Bear 2012). Bears are mainly only a problem in mountain towns like Durango.
- The city of Durango will require all residents to use bear proof garbage cans or, if using a standard can it must be securely stored until the morning of trash pick-up. Starting on the first of June 2013. (Bear 2012)
- The goal of bear proof garbage cans is to stop bears from becoming habituated - coming into town and eating trash. (Bear 2012)
- If bears stop coming into town looking for food Durango will have less human bear conflicts.
- The city of Durango will charge residents all of what the bear proof garbage cans cost if they chose to have one.
- Residents will get fined $200 for leaving a non-certified trash can trash outside of their garage or putting out the trash the night before pickup.
- This law will be enforced by the police.
- This plan will be measured by if the number of complaints about bears eating trash has gone down at least 20% in the summer and fall of 2013 since 2012.
B. Benefits
- This plan will be cost effective for the city.
- This plan will effectively reduce human bear conflicts in Durango.
- Similar plans have worked very well for other towns like Mammoth Lakes California. (Mammoth)
C. Cons
- It may be hard to enforce an entire city to follow these regulations.
2. An aversive conditioning plan will be put in place in the city of Durango.
A. Details
- Bears conflicting with humans have become an important issue. The state of Colorado has already euthanized 20 bears this summer (Game 2012). Bears are mainly only a problem in mountain towns like Durango. Bear Smart Durango started in 2003 (Bear 2012) so around 2003 is when bears became a big enough problem in Durango that we had to start an organization to keep them under control.
- If a resident complains about a bear or has a conflict, the Division of Wildlife will be dispatched to the area to conduct aversive conditioning. Starting the first of June. (Bear 2012)
- The goal of aversive conditioning is to prevent habituation. (Aversive)
- The Division of Wildlife will tranquilize the bears, move the bear at least 25 miles outside of town, tag it to keep track of their actions and how many times it has been hazed and if the plan is working.
- When the bear wakes up the Division of Wildlife will haze the bear with rubber bullets and bear mace.
- The Division of Wildlife may change the methods to use on the bears depending on what the situation is.
B. Benefits
- Aversive conditioning prevents habituation and temporarily reduces human black bear conflicts. (Aversive)
- Aversive conditioning works for Division of Natural Resources. (Aversive)
C. Cons
- Its labor intensive.
- Involves a lot of monitoring and tracking.
- It is disruptive to the neighborhood.
3. Bear awareness days.
A. Details
- Bears conflicting with humans have become an important issue. Bears are mainly only a problem in mountain towns like Durango. Bear Smart Durango started in 2003 (Bear 2012) so around 2003 is when bears became a big enough problem in Durango that we had to start an organization to keep them under control. Bears are usually a problem in late summer and fall because that is when they need to find and eat a lot food so they can hibernate for winter. Involved in this issue is bears, humans, the Division of Wildlife, Bear Smart Durango, and Waste Management.
- The old bear awareness week will be replaced with this new plan. (Bear2012)
- In order to raise awareness about living in bear country, the city of Durango will host a bear awareness day each summer.
- On Saturday, July 28th , from 11am to 3pm, the city of Durango will have a bear awareness day at Buckley park. Because that’s when bear season starts. (Bear 2012)
- The city of Durango will pay for this event, it will be run by a few people working for the city controlling about 15 volunteers.
- The volunteers will help set up and take down the small stage for speakers, and make sure everything is running smooth.
- The volunteers will come from the city’s pool of volunteers.
- There will be flyers all over town advertising the event, set up by the planners of the event.
- The goal is to teach people about bears so they know what to do when they encounter one. (Bear 2012)
- Zia Taqueria, Ska, and the Irish Embassy will bring food carts to the event to attract people walking downtown.
- The Division of Wildlife will have a booth set up to hand out little information cards about bears, answer questions, and give away bumper stickers (I know they have because they had them at hunter safety).
- The Division of Wildlife will show tools and methods they use to control bears such as traps, dogs, and weapons.
- There will also be little games outside to entertain the little kids. Like trivia games about bear safety and they win candy.
- A few volunteer, local speakers will give speeches to teach people.
- The speakers could be people from the Division of Wildlife and similar organizations, and local biologists can speak will be asked to speak.
- Whenever there is a human bear conflict or complaint about bears in Durango the Division of Wildlife will ask the resident if they attended the bear awareness day, and if they didn’t they will be recommended to attend it next year.
- This plan will be a success if there are no human bear conflicts with the people that attended this event.
B. Benefits
- Increasing people’s knowledge. (Bear 2012)
- Cost efficient.
- Easy to do.
C. Cons
- It’s a lot to organize
- It’s hard to measure the effectiveness of this plan.
Human-Bear Conflict Project Reflection
In this project we chose a problem that we like and create solutions for that problem. I decided to work on human-bear conflicts because that is as big problem here in Durango. Then I created a management plan with 3 solutions in it to help the problem of bears in Durango. My strongest part of my management plan is probably my idea to mandate bear proof trash cans. But it’s a lot of money for the city to pay for thousands of trash cans and it’s not fair to force people to buy them. So I said people either have to buy their own or just keep their trash locked in their garage where the bears can’t get it and they have to take out their trash the morning of pickup, not the night before. It’s a good plan because it’s been proven to work for a lot of other towns, it doesn’t cost the city anything, and I have a plan to enforce it. During this project I developed many skills. I’ve never done objective writing before and barely used excel so I learned quite a bit about both of those. I also learned how to find and read scholarly articles and use in text citations. This biggest thing I learned from this project is that diversity = stability. Bears are an important part of are ecosystem as tertiary consumers. I never really knew how important human bear conflict is until this project, and I had no knowledge of how we deal with bears and what we are doing good and bad right now in Durango and Colorado.
Durango Nature Studies Summary
Amphibian population estimates and ecosystem assessment on the Durango Nature Studies property
Miles Rivera
Introduction
Durango Nature Studies is a local nature center that has been bringing hands on, outdoor, nature education to the four corners for almost 20 years. Durango Nature Studies serves about 6,000 people a year. It is located 12 miles south of Durango Colorado on highway 550. The property is 142 acres of protected land with a pond, many hiking trails that go through a wide variety of habitats, and the Florida River runs through the land. Bullfrogs are not native to Colorado and started to be seen on the DNS property about 4 years ago. They were introduced by the Division of Wildlife and commercial meat producers, as a food source and for sport. But the bullfrogs have been causing trouble on native amphibians and the general ecosystem ever since. Invasive species threaten native plants, animals, and ecosystems, as well as impacting agricultural ecosystems and other human activity. Control costs and environmental damages can add up to millions of dollars per year. Bullfrogs and bluegills are extremely harmful to leopard frogs. The bullfrogs push the leopard frogs out of the good hiding spots on the edge of the ponds into the open water where the bluegills eat the leopard frogs. Leopard frogs are native to Colorado and are a species of special concern.
Natural History
Bull Frogs: This is a very versatile and adaptable species of frog. It is an invasive species that comes into new environments and negatively impacts ecosystems. They are mostly found in lowland permanent water bodies like lakes, rivers, and large ponds all the way from southern Nova Scotia to southern Ontario.
Leopard Frogs: The Leopard Frog is part of a large complex species that range across all of North America. Leopard Frogs eat a wide variety of prey, but mainly insects, spiders and other small invertebrates. They are eaten by snakes, turtles, herons and raccoons. It takes a Leopard Frog approximately two years to reach maturity. In captivity, they have lived for up to nine years although individuals in the wild would likely only live to age three or four.
Methods & Materials
In order to estimate amphibian populations, three techniques were used. Four five-pitfall traps were set up and checked daily. Visual encounter surveys were conducted around the pond each day for four days. A one hour mark session was conducted and a one hour recapture session was conducted. Pink elastomer was used to mark frogs temporarily. Water chemistry tests were conducted in the pond and the Florida River; Nitrates, Phosphates, Dissolved Oxygen, and pH. Lastly, macro-invertebrates were collected in the river using a kick method, and in the pond using a dip net.
Results
Based on macro-invertebrate collection and the Shannon-Weiner index, the diversity of the DNS pond was found to be 1.21, and in 2011 the diversity was 0.98. In the Florida River the diversity was 0.87, and in 2011 the diversity was 1.02. The pond’s pH was alkaline, nitrogen and phosphates were high, and dissolved oxygen levels were low. The pond and the river tested positive for coliform. The river’s pH was alkaline, nitrogen and phosphates were high, and dissolved oxygen levels were normal. There were no stoneflies found in the river possibly because of their low pollution tolerance level. Based on the mark recapture population estimate there are 15 leopard frogs and no bull frogs in the pond. Based on the visual encounter population estimates there are 11 leopard frogs and 1 bull frog.
Conclusion & Discussion
The data tells us that we have more macro invertebrate diversity in the pond has gone up .23 since last year. In the river the diversity has gone down .15 this year. These changes could because of the high pH, nitrogen, and phosphates. The bull frog population is very low and that is good because they are harmful to most ecosystems. The leopard frog population is good with a solid 15 at mark recapture population.
The water quality is high in pH, nitrogen, and phosphates and the pond could use some more dissolved oxygen. The high nitrates could be due to fertilizers or other chemicals being used at DNS. The water could be at risk to an algal bloom do to an excess amount of phosphates. To prevent an algal bloom it is possible to use algae growth control products, let herbivorous fish grow in the water to keep the algae in check, or grow other plants in the water to help absorb excess nutrients.
If data was collected more often it would be more accurate. If the pond was bigger more leopard frogs could live in it, and the bullfrog and bluegill population needs to be kept in check to make sure they don’t kill all the leopard frogs. Our field techniques are working so far we just need to make sure everything stays good and in check before it gets out of hand.
Bibliography (no internet)
Wikipedia.com
Elliot Mink’s and Stephen Miranda’s Species Management Plan for Rana pipeins & Rana catesbeiana on the Durango Nature Studies Center Property
Ehow.com
Miles Rivera
Introduction
Durango Nature Studies is a local nature center that has been bringing hands on, outdoor, nature education to the four corners for almost 20 years. Durango Nature Studies serves about 6,000 people a year. It is located 12 miles south of Durango Colorado on highway 550. The property is 142 acres of protected land with a pond, many hiking trails that go through a wide variety of habitats, and the Florida River runs through the land. Bullfrogs are not native to Colorado and started to be seen on the DNS property about 4 years ago. They were introduced by the Division of Wildlife and commercial meat producers, as a food source and for sport. But the bullfrogs have been causing trouble on native amphibians and the general ecosystem ever since. Invasive species threaten native plants, animals, and ecosystems, as well as impacting agricultural ecosystems and other human activity. Control costs and environmental damages can add up to millions of dollars per year. Bullfrogs and bluegills are extremely harmful to leopard frogs. The bullfrogs push the leopard frogs out of the good hiding spots on the edge of the ponds into the open water where the bluegills eat the leopard frogs. Leopard frogs are native to Colorado and are a species of special concern.
Natural History
Bull Frogs: This is a very versatile and adaptable species of frog. It is an invasive species that comes into new environments and negatively impacts ecosystems. They are mostly found in lowland permanent water bodies like lakes, rivers, and large ponds all the way from southern Nova Scotia to southern Ontario.
Leopard Frogs: The Leopard Frog is part of a large complex species that range across all of North America. Leopard Frogs eat a wide variety of prey, but mainly insects, spiders and other small invertebrates. They are eaten by snakes, turtles, herons and raccoons. It takes a Leopard Frog approximately two years to reach maturity. In captivity, they have lived for up to nine years although individuals in the wild would likely only live to age three or four.
Methods & Materials
In order to estimate amphibian populations, three techniques were used. Four five-pitfall traps were set up and checked daily. Visual encounter surveys were conducted around the pond each day for four days. A one hour mark session was conducted and a one hour recapture session was conducted. Pink elastomer was used to mark frogs temporarily. Water chemistry tests were conducted in the pond and the Florida River; Nitrates, Phosphates, Dissolved Oxygen, and pH. Lastly, macro-invertebrates were collected in the river using a kick method, and in the pond using a dip net.
Results
Based on macro-invertebrate collection and the Shannon-Weiner index, the diversity of the DNS pond was found to be 1.21, and in 2011 the diversity was 0.98. In the Florida River the diversity was 0.87, and in 2011 the diversity was 1.02. The pond’s pH was alkaline, nitrogen and phosphates were high, and dissolved oxygen levels were low. The pond and the river tested positive for coliform. The river’s pH was alkaline, nitrogen and phosphates were high, and dissolved oxygen levels were normal. There were no stoneflies found in the river possibly because of their low pollution tolerance level. Based on the mark recapture population estimate there are 15 leopard frogs and no bull frogs in the pond. Based on the visual encounter population estimates there are 11 leopard frogs and 1 bull frog.
Conclusion & Discussion
The data tells us that we have more macro invertebrate diversity in the pond has gone up .23 since last year. In the river the diversity has gone down .15 this year. These changes could because of the high pH, nitrogen, and phosphates. The bull frog population is very low and that is good because they are harmful to most ecosystems. The leopard frog population is good with a solid 15 at mark recapture population.
The water quality is high in pH, nitrogen, and phosphates and the pond could use some more dissolved oxygen. The high nitrates could be due to fertilizers or other chemicals being used at DNS. The water could be at risk to an algal bloom do to an excess amount of phosphates. To prevent an algal bloom it is possible to use algae growth control products, let herbivorous fish grow in the water to keep the algae in check, or grow other plants in the water to help absorb excess nutrients.
If data was collected more often it would be more accurate. If the pond was bigger more leopard frogs could live in it, and the bullfrog and bluegill population needs to be kept in check to make sure they don’t kill all the leopard frogs. Our field techniques are working so far we just need to make sure everything stays good and in check before it gets out of hand.
Bibliography (no internet)
Wikipedia.com
Elliot Mink’s and Stephen Miranda’s Species Management Plan for Rana pipeins & Rana catesbeiana on the Durango Nature Studies Center Property
Ehow.com