By Rosemary Ford and Caitlin Agnew

This article has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Today we're here to talk about bears. Bears have been cropping up in neighborhoods across New Hampshire. And is that a good thing? Here to answer our burning bear questions is New Hampshire Fish and Game, Bear Project Leader, and Wildlife Damage Biologist, Dan Bailey.

Melanie Plenda:

So can you tell us a bit about what you do? What does being a bear project leader and wildlife damage biologists entail?

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, absolutely. And first of all, good afternoon, and thank you for having me. So my position with New Hampshire Fish and Game, again, is Bear Project Leader, I am tasked with managing the bear population throughout the state. So in New Hampshire, bears are managed by region, we have six bear management regions in New Hampshire. Each one of these regions has a specific population goal and objective that we strive to keep that population in. And we manage to be there by region, because as you can guess, their populations are not the same throughout the state. So by managing them at these smaller levels, we can more accurately manipulate them to where we want those populations to be. Another thing to note is, our main tool to manage bear populations in New Hampshire is through hunting season structures. So these hunting seasons allow us to harvest bears and keep those populations in check. And we can either liberalize seasons, if we need to decrease population in certain regions, or we can take a more conservative approach, and have a shorter season if we're looking to grill populations. Another large aspect of my job is managing conflicts throughout the state. So we have bear technicians that work seasonally for the department and for our partner, agency, USDA Wildlife Services. They assist us in managing these conflicts, through education, technical assistance, and conflict abatement loans.

Melanie Plenda:

So when you say conflict, can you explain what you mean by that? What does that look like in the wild? And with what you do?

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, so when I'm referring to conflicts, I'm referring to a homeowner, or maybe it's a commercial grower that is having an issue with a bear and is reaching out to the department for help. You know, this can be a variety of things from somebody seeing a bear in their backyard and perceiving that as a threat to bears getting into unsecured garbage in a household, bears getting into bird feeders at homes, or unprotected poultry or livestock. So there's really a variety of conflicts we can call them. But really, it's anyone calling in looking for assistance.

Melanie Plenda:

When you go in to deal with those conflicts, is there some is there an overarching strategy, like underlying it? Are you trying to make sure that you just kind of relocate the bear? Or what are some of the thinking around that conflict sort of resolution?

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, in New Hampshire, conflict resolution typically revolves around education, and trying to secure food attractants, they are very food motivated, a majority of our bear conflicts in the state revolve around bears getting into some kind of food attract in that household. The way we would mitigate that is to educate the homeowner on securing that food attractant. And if that is unavailable to the bear, and the bear cannot access it, then that problem will resolve itself. So it's really just trying to figure out, what's the problem at hand? And what's the best solution? You mentioned, relocation, really, we do not relocate there. We don't do this, because it may be a short term solution to the issue, but it's not a long term solution, that bear is at that property for a reason. And if we move that bear, another bear will likely just fill its place. So we need to get at the root of the issue.

Melanie Plenda:

So why is that? Are there more bears? Are our neighborhoods closer to theirs? What's going on there?

Dan Bailey:

I'd say that's due to a variety of factors. Number one, there are more there, over the past 30 years, our bear population in the state has more than doubled. But if you also think about our human population, we've added about 300,000 residents to the state of New Hampshire during that same time frame. So we have more people on the landscape, we have more bears on the landscape. And another factor that I would add, especially in recent years, most homes now have security cameras. So you're seeing, people are seeing they're at their home, when they normally wouldn't, we get a lot of videos sent in of a bear crossing through someone's yard at two o'clock in the morning, there have always crossed in their yard at two o'clock in the morning, but now they are aware of it because they have these home security cameras. COVID, and people working from home more, has also influenced that because as people are home on their property more, they are more apt to see these bears when they pass through.

Melanie Plenda:

Interesting. And so can we talk a little bit more about why the bear population has doubled? Is it because of hunting? Or how is that changed?

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, so management strategies, our bear population was a lot lower and below its environmental carrying capacity, back in the 80s and the 90s. And the department's approach was to grow the bear population. So our harvest strategy was conservative, not many bears were being taken during the hunting season, allowing for the population to grow. Now our population is at the level that we want it to be sustained at. So we take a more liberalized approach during that hunting season, especially in some of these management regions, the White Mountains region and the Central Lakes region where our populations are, right now a little above our goal. So we're taking a liberalized approach to try to bring those populations back down to levels that we want to see them stay at.

Melanie Plenda:

And we spoke a bit about this already, but do we need to be worried about bears? Are they a threat to humans or pets?

Dan Bailey:

No, we certainly do not need to be worried about them. If you're seeing a bear likely it's either passing through your property or it's there because there's a food source. So if you do not want to see bears on your property, make sure that you secure all food attractants like we talked about bird seed, unsecured garbage, pet food, and backyard pool alter your livestock. But yeah, that is the reason that the bears are on your property, they have one goal and that is to get food. So likely if you're having an issue where a bear is repeatedly on your property, it's because it's getting something. And that does not include your pets that does not include people. They're not looking for those as a food source. It's more of these things that we've talked about.

Melanie Plenda:

And what's the best way to prevent bear visits is putting your garbage inside enough? It seems like bear proof feeders aren't the best solution.

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, so as we talked about before, making sure that your home is free of any food attractants. So, you know, the department recommends that bird feeders only be out between December 1 and April 1. So anytime during the summer months, spring, summer and fall, bird feeders should be removed. Garbage should be secured either in a locked structure or in a bear resistant or bear proof container. That way bears can't get at it. 

Melanie Plenda:

And if someone has concerns about bears in their neighborhood, what should they do?

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, they're concerned about bear issues in their neighborhood, they can reach out to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Wildlife Division specifically. And we can help them with any issues or concerns they may have.

Melanie Plenda:

And if you do encounter a bear, what should you do?

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, typically, if you encounter a bear saying you're in the woods, my experience has been if I see a bear, it's because it hasn't seen me yet. So just making your presence known, clap your hands, say, “hey, bear”, typically, you'll find that that bear will quickly take off in the other direction.

Melanie Plenda:

What if a bear is in your pool or your house? Both of those things have happened in other states recently.

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, you know, those are very different situations. So I'll start with the pool. Yeah, if you have a bear in your pool, they don't see it as a pool, they don't see it as your property. They see it is a water source. They're avid swimmers. And likely, there, we see these videos during, these heat waves, and bears just cooling off. So just some harassment, clapping your hands using pots and pans using an air horn, any kind of loud, sharp sound to harass that bear and make it feel uncomfortable on your property. A bear being in your home is a different situation. In New Hampshire, if you have a bear that has entered your home, we certainly would urge you to contact the department so that we can work with you to mitigate that situation.

Melanie Plenda:

And one last question, just kind of coming back to that idea of climate change. How are you taking the impacts of climate change into your sort of management of these pieces? And do you think that we will be seeing more of our food sources being impacted? What's happening there a little bit?

Dan Bailey:

Yeah, I would say, looking at the past few summers, I think three out of our past four summers, we've been in a drought. At this time of year, bears diet heavily, very heavily rely on berry crops, which we call soft mass, you have raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and various cherry crops that are available to bear during the summer months. When we have these years of significant droughts, it impacts those berry crops. And it means that there's less food available on the landscape for bears. So, that certainly has negative effects. It means bears have to travel further for food because there's less available. And as we see that continue, and if this cycle of drought, summers continues, that certainly will negatively impact bears availability or food availability on the landscape. The other thing we're seeing, with climate change, we're seeing that we're having shorter, more mild winters which means bears are active longer. They're active further into the winter, and they're active earlier in the spring. And the main issue that arises there is because, food availability, especially in the early spring, there's not a lot of food on the landscape for bears. So they gravitate towards these bird feeders and suburban settings where there's food attractants and that increase in conflict can lower that social carrying capacity and negatively impact our bear population.

Melanie Plenda:

Dan Bailey, New Hampshire Fish and Game Bear Project Leader, and Wildlife Damage Biologist, thank you so much for joining us today.

The State We’re in a weekly digital public affairs show is produced by NH PBS and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communications. It is shared with partners in the Granite State News Collaborative, of which both organizations are members.