By Ollie Reed Jr.
Tribune Reporter
Jan Hayes says black bears - beleaguered by drought and hunters - have a ways to go to get a pawhold on survival in New Mexico.
But Hayes, founder of Sandia Mountain Bear Watch, a bear-conservation group, says public agencies charged with the protection of the animals have made positive strides in the past year or so in setting reasonable hunting limits and in making trash containers bear-resistant. Such efforts, she said, bode well for the bears' future.
Hayes said Bear Watch will take advantage of Saturday's Sandia Mountain Bear Fair at the Sandia Peak Ski Lodge to thank these agencies - the state Department of Game and Fish, the U.S. Forest Service and Bernalillo County - for responding to the organization's concerns about bears.
"Public agencies have turned a corner," she said. "I believe the big story is how Governor (Bill) Richardson and these agencies have come together with Bear Watch to try to protect New Mexico's black bears."
Hayes points especially to the state Game Commission's 2004-05 bear-hunting season, which set an overall statewide limit of 336 bears and a sow limit of 171. About 700 bears had been killed in state hunts the previous three years.
"I think this is major," Hayes said of the hunting limits. "There is going to be conservation for this animal based on a scientific study rather than on hunter demand.
"It's a good balancing act. It provides good opportunity for hunters, but it also is trying to protect the species. We hope the commission continues down this path."
Hayes also applauds the Cibola National Forest for bear-proofing containers at Sandia and Manzano mountain campsites and the Legislature for passing bear-proofing legislation last year.
The legislation, which has not yet gone into effect, is intended to require commercial trash collectors in bear country to bear-proof big trash bins behind restaurants, schools, grocery stores and other locations.
Bears that become accustomed to finding their food in trash containers are more likely to come into contact with people and lose their natural fear of humans. That increases the likelihood of maulings and the killing of offending bears.
"Bears are really smart," Hayes said. "Sows will teach their cubs how to find food in garbage containers."
She said the cycle will be broken only by the use of bear-resistant containers and the education of the public.
Hayes said Bernalillo County recently took a stab at education by mailing out 26,000 "How to Keep Bears Alive and You Safe" brochures to residents of the eastern and western slopes of the Sandias and Manzanos.
During Saturday's Bear Fair, people can learn bear-safety techniques such as how to hang bird feeders so they do not attract bears.
"What it all comes down to," Hayes said, "is that if you live in the mountains among these beautiful birds and wildlife, like I do, you have to take some responsibility. Because once you have lost the bears in the Sandias and Manzanos, there is no going back."
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BEAR FAIR
What: Sandia Mountain Bear Fair.
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Sandia Peak Ski Lodge, on the Sandia Crest Road.
Purpose: Inform people who live in or hike and camp in black bear country how to co-exist safely and responsibly with the bears.
Activities: Presentations on how to keep yourself safe and bears alive; exhibits of birds, snakes, prairie dogs and a wolf; handouts about living in bear country; a Mrs. Bear puppet show for kids; $7 round-trip rides on ski-area ski lift chairs. Food available.
Sponsors: Sandia Mountain Bear Watch, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Cibola National Forest and Bernalillo County.
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