September 2, 2000 Missoulian (AP) article by Katherine Vogt: Trouble is brewin' for campers; Bears, fires will dampen normal holiday revelry.
DENVER - Camping just won't be the same this Labor Day weekend as outdoor enthusiasts are being asked to douse their campfires and pack up their picnics because of fire restrictions and hungry bears.
Forest and wildlife officials warned people heading to the Rocky Mountain high-country Friday that months of dry, hot weather have left many places ripe for fire and bereft of adequate food for bears.
"This emphasizes the need for folks to be careful in the woods," said Randy Wilkerson, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service in Lakewood. "Storing food properly and fire safety, these precautions become even more important in a year like this."
CAG Comment
This also emphasizes the need for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to rethink their proposal to reintroduce grizzly bears into the Selway Bitterroot Ecosystem {SBE] in Idaho and Montana.
We have also experienced hot, dry weather, coupled with raging forest fires, especially in Idaho and Montana in the SBE and contiguous areas -- all of which further negates the possibility of a quality habitat for grizzly bears.
Scientists have warned the governor of Montana that the habitat is inadequate and scientists have pointed out the fallacies in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, FEIS.
If that is not enough, the federal land and resource management agencies have been captured by environmental groups that have replaced "Wise Use and not Abuse of our Natural Resources" with "Save everything, use nothing," a symptom of a sick TOP DOWN MANAGEMENT that is a symptom of socialism leaning toward full blown communism that does not work.
End CAG Comment
Forest officials will be out in force this weekend, ensuring campers comply with fire restrictions. Authorities were also particularly concerned about the potential for human contact with bears following a near record summer of such encounters.
On Thursday, a bear attacked and devoured alpaca, a cousin breed of the llama, at a home near Grand Junction. The dead animal was valued at $10 to12100 for its prize fur.
That same day, two male black bears were spotted within the city limits of Fort Collins, a northern Colorado community of about 100,000.
One of the bears apparently had been rummaging through trash cans in a residential neighborhood before it made its way through an open gate and into Pat Embrys' backyard. It climbed up a cottonwood tree where it stayed for most of the morning until it was tranquilized and brought down by wildlife officials.
"I feel .sorry for the bear. It's been such a tough year for them," Embry said.
Wildlife Officials agree that conditions have left many bears scrambling for food. A frost in May followed by drought conditions in parts of the Rockies left scant forage for bears.
"In simple terms there aren't enough berries,." said Todd, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
The increased lost for food, combined with a lack of of forage in some places and an influx of residents in many mountain areas, has sent the number of human-bear encounters skyrocketing.
Some areas, including the mountain towns of Aspen and Basalt, have had up to 12 reports of bear nuisances a day, Maimsbury said.
As of Friday, 97 bears had been killed in Colorado this summer, on pace to be one of the highest death tolls in years. Nearly 50 of those deaths were at the hands of landowners claiming defense of themselves or their livestock, Maimsbury said.
"It's likely were going to continue to have bear problems in some areas of the state all the way into mid-October," he said.
Elsewhere across the West, black bears clawed or bit four Boy Scouts in July near Cimarron in northeastern New Mexico, the first such attacks since 1986. None of the injuries was serious.
In Arizona, bears have been spotted in record numbers because of unseasonably dry weather, said Frosty Taylor, a spokes woman for the Arizona , Game and Fish Department.
"We've had several sightings because the weather conditions have been drawing the animals in," she said.
"People need to be extra alert this "weekend and use a lot of common sense while camping."
Authorities were also urging caution with campfires following one of the worst fire seasons on record across the West.