HD95 - Black Bear Damage Programs


Executive Summary:
As part of the 2004-06 biennium budget bill, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) was directed to report on the black bear damage programs in other states and to review the policies of federal land-management agencies that may impact Virginia's ability to manage black bear populations and associated damage.

A questionnaire was sent to 19 eastern and mid-western states to evaluate policies and programs that address problem bear issues in other states. Damage management options used in other states were evaluated for their effectiveness, level of effort, and the overall importance to bear damage management programs.

Most bear damage management options used by other state management agencies were considered to be less than adequate for managing nuisance bear problems and none were considered to be completely effective. The only options considered to be relatively effective and important were exclusion devices, regulated hunting, and public education. Despite being the techniques that required the greatest effort, exclusion devices and public education were still among the most commonly used approaches. Although commonly promoted by agricultural producers, compensation for damage was only used by 32% of the surveyed states, considered to be relatively ineffective, and was among the options requiring the greatest amount of effort.

No single management option is best for managing human-bear conflicts and an integrated approach, using multiple management options, is necessary to manage the diversity of nuisance bear problems. The VDGIF has employed most of the nuisance management options to address bear problems in Virginia. The VDGIF has been very proactive in the implementation of regulated hunting to manage bear problems, but added emphasis on the other more effective approaches (e.g., public education, exclusion devices) could improve the overall nuisance bear concerns.

Federal land-management agencies, especially the George Washington/Jefferson National Forest, Shenandoah National Park, and the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge, manage a variety of properties in Virginia that could have an impact on bear management issues. The diverse missions of these various federal agencies can create unique problems for managing black bear populations and associated damage. Very few constraints accompany VDGIF bear population management programs (i.e., hunting seasons) on US Forest Service lands in Virginia. Despite clear expectations that National Wildlife Refuges have hunting as a primary recreational focus, the administrative realities of implementing bear hunting seasons on the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge has been very problematic. Harvesting bears, or any wildlife, on National Park Service lands to meet regional population or damage management objectives would be especially challenging for Shenandoah National Park. Maintaining the cooperative relationships that VDGIF currently has with its federal land-management partners will be vital in achieving the respective goals of all the agencies.