Chasing grizzlies: A career in wildlife protection
Oregon State University researcher Katherine M c A r
thur will hike more than 750 miles this summer in M o n
tana’ s Glacier N ational Park. But she won’ t be on any
vacation.
In fact, the graduate student in fisheries and w ildlife
almost qualifies for hazardous-duty pay.
M cA rth u r, like she did last summer, w ill be looking
for grizzly bears.
Financed by a $16,000, two-year National Park Ser
vice grant she is investigating how d iffe ren t en viron
mental circumstances - specifically, the current number
of park visitors to Glacier - affect bear behavior.
Results o f her study will be used to help develop new
bear-management techniques, not only at Glacier but
at other p arks, such as A la s k a ’ s M o u n t M c K in le y ,
which are inhabitied bv grizzlies.
The number o f Glacier visitors has nearly doubled in
the past 13 years, from approximately 800,000 in 1968
to almost 1.5 m illion in 1960. The number o f hikers in
the park’s back country has increased even more, from
several thousand in the late 60s to about 25,000 last
year.
Coupled with this rise in park visitors has been an in
crease in human injuries and deaths caused by the bears.
Last year was the grisliest on record. Although no in
juries were reported, three hikers were killed by bears.
That equals the to tal number o f bear-caused fatalities
recorded in Glacier’ s previous 71-year history.
“ W e’ ve been observing changes in the behavior o f the
animals, such as bears fo llo w in g hikers, since about
1975,” said M c A rth u r, who was a park employee at
Glacier for four years before entering graduate school at
OSU.
“ These can be pretty scary encounters,” she added.
“ People will be walking down a trail, minding their own
business, and suddenly a bear will start following them.
W e use to tell people th at i f you give a bear h a lf a
chance it will go away. That doesn’ t always w o rk.”
T h e researcher is focusing her in v e s tig a tio n on a
behaviorial process called habituation.
“ This means the bears are learning to respond to an
incon sequ en tial s tim u lu s ,” e x p la in ed M c A r th u r .
“ W hen an anim al is exposed to a stimulus and it re
peatedly sees that this stimulus - for example, a human
— is o f no consequence, then it learns not to respond to
it. Habituation is losing any sort o f response, whether
it’s curiosity or fear.
“ W e want to know how this type o f behavior affects
confrontation rates. Does it tend to mitigate injuries or
increase injuries? I t could possibly do eith er one or
both,” she added.
“ You might have fewer injuries if bears are becoming
more tolerate o f people because the animals might be
less likely to get upset when they encounter humans. O r
you might have more injuries as bears and humans have
more contact, because throughout history it's been up
to bears to keep their distance from humans. W ith more
contact, more injuries could occur because bears are
such dangerous animals.”
T h e researcher said h a b itu a tio n is re la ted to the
changes in the nature o f bear-inflicted injuries that park
officials have been observing since the early 70s.
M o th e r bears w ith cubs, w hich ra re ly becom e
habituated, used to inflict approximately 75 percent o f
the reported injuries to hikers. But in the past several
years adolescent and lone adult grizzlies, which frequen
tly become habituated, now account for about 75 per
cent o f the injuries.
" W e d o n ’ t kn o w w hy m others w ith cubs ra re ly
become h abituated,” said M c A rth u r. “ This was first
observed at salmon streams and garbage dumps. Bears
w o u ld become h a b itu a te d to o th e r bears, but the
mothers never learned to tolerate other grizzlies. The
mothers would come into these areas and get the food
they needed by aggressive b ehavior, not by tolerance
like the adolescents and loners,” she said.
M cC athur emphasized that bears, habituated or not,
are dangerous creatures.
“ But persons planning visits to parks w ith grizzles
can reduce the chance o f in ju r y w ith a few sim ple
measures,” she said. "C o m m on sense precautions, like
hanging fo o d in a tree and n o t scattering garbage
around the campsite, helps discourage bears.”
She also stressed the im p ortan ce o f learn in g p ark
rules, since each park has different regulations depend
ing on the problems it is experiencing with its particular
bears.
Persons who violate rules, especially those pertaining
to food, may cause injury to other visitors,” M cA rth ur
added. “ People who do foolish things may not get hurt
them selves, but th e ir actions m ay lead to inn o cen t
people being injured.”
M c A rth u r, when she is looking for bears, said, " M y
first thought is my own safety, 1 put myself in a secure
position.
“ M ost often when I see a bear, it's up on a hillside.
So I have a seat on the trail right where I am, pull out
my data sheets and start making observations.”
Last summer, when the study began. M cA rth ur hiked
more than 750 miles to make 24 observations on 12 griz
zly bears. T h a t’s an average o f 60 miles per bear.
“ It takes a lot o f time and a lot o f hiking to see one,”
she said. “ You just can’t go out and plan on observing a
few bears. I had 10 trails in my study area - in many
Glacier Valley in the park’ s northeastern section - and I
covered one complete set o f trails every 15 days.”
Make People Your Career
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Gertrude Rae believes in people A-, wife,
mother and community volunteer they re
Per major concern As business profes
sional. Gertrudes confidence in people
has been frequently challenged
and
often confirmed She knows their ability to
develop potentials and achieve new goals
in her position as Personnel Manager for
KPTV she understands the risks involved
when choosing a career And the rewards
as well
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Born in Canada and raised in Oregon.
Gertrudes ow n background reflects the
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tions She learned skills and responsibility
blending work, marriage and study Dedi
cated years on the staff of the Portland
Urban League familiarized her with prob-
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lems of education and employment facing
a wide range of people Exploring individ
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Not all the solutions were only for
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Working within the media means people
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gardless of their sex. race, age or national
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Whatever your training, certain skills are
bound to be transferable in related fields If
a career in the television industry appeals
to you. find out more by contacting the
KPTV Personnel Department
KPTV Q 3
EEO
Portland Obaarvar Thursday, July W, '
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