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Brown Bear Management in Southeastern Alaska

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Brown Bear Management in Southeastern Alaska BROWNBEAR MANAGEMENTIN SOUTHEASTERNALASKA LOYALJOHNSON, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 499, Sitka 99835 Abstract:Brown bears(Ursus arctos) inhabitthe mainlandof southeastAlaska and the islands northof FrederickSound. Greatestnumbers occur in Alaska Game ManagementUnit 4, the ABC (Admiralty,Baranof, and Chichagof)islands, whereabout 70 percentof the southeasternharvest is taken. Average sportharvests increased from 51 bearsper year (1949-56) to 60 per year (1962-72) to 141 in 1975. Otherpertinent harvest statistics have remainedfairly consistent since 1949: averageskin size (lengthplus width), 4.1m; averageskull size (lengthplus width), 54.6 cm. Based on dentalannuli, ages of males have averaged8.1 years since 1968. The highest mean annualage was 9.4 years in 1976. The goal of managementis to maintaina high-qualityhunting experience, which an annualharvest rate of 60-80 animals per year will do much to provide. Harveststatistics gatheredover the past 30 years will provideguidelines to insurethat management plans are biologically sound. Currentregulations that should limit the harvestto desired levels are a $25 tag fee for resident huntersand a limit on the numberof guides who can operate in Unit 4. If these fail, time-spacezoning, furtherrestrictions on guides, or ultimatelypermit-only hunting will be necessary. Transferof nearly 151,760 ha to privateland throughthe Alaska Native ClaimsSettlement Act andcontinuing large-scale clearcut logging furthercloud the managementissue, but with prudent managementpolicies, high-qualityand reasonablyhigh-quantity brown bear sport hunting should be possible for many years to come. Alaska Game ManagementUnit (GMU) 4 consists 600 m. Muskegs and subalpine and alpine vegetation of Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof islands, known occur above that elevation. as the ABC islands, as well as smalleradjacent islands. Brown bears have apparentlyoccupied the ABC is- The majorityof southeasternAlaska's brown bears are lands since recession of the last Ice Age some 10,000 found on these islands, and our greatest body of data years ago (Klein 1965). They are the only large carni- pertainsto this part of southeasternAlaska. vore on the islands. Wolves (Canis lupus), wolverines This work was financed in part through Federal Aid (Gulo gulo), and black bears (Ursus americanus) to Wildlife Restoration, Alaska Project W-17-R. The but no brown bears - are present on the Alaskan is- Boone and Crockett Club provided for the author's lands of the Alexander Archipelago south of Frederick transportationto the Fourth InternationalBear Confer- Sound. All four of these species coexist on the adjacent ence in Kalispell. Sincere thanks are due D. E. mainland(Klein 1965). McKnight, R. E. Pegau, and L. M. Bergdoll of the Brown bears appear well adapted to the habitats Alaska Departmentof Fish and Game for their assis- available on the ABC islands and at the appropriate tance in preparingthis paper. times of year make use of most habitat types. Bears emerge from their winter dens, which are located at or above timberline,in April and May and descend to the THE AREA beaches, where newly emerging grasses, sedges, and The ABC islands are the northernmostislands of the forbs providethe bulk of their diet. Some scavenging of Alexander Archipelago (Fig. 1). Admiralty and animal remains, i.e., winter-killed deer (Odocoileus Baranof islands each have an area of about 2,575 km2 hemionussitkensis) and marinemammal carcasses, oc- and Chichagof has about 3,540 km2. They are sepa- curs. Bears remainnear the beaches until early summer rated from the remainderof the archipelago by Fred- when berriesbegin to ripen and anadromousfish begin erick Sound. All are characterizedby rugged topog- to appearin the streams. They feed on fish and berries raphy, with some peaks rising to 900-1,200 m only 1-2 until the fish runs begin to diminish in Septemberand km from salt water. The shoreline, some 3,700 km in October. At that time, they move to higher elevations extent, is very irregular and has many long, narrow where they remainfor a shortperiod, feeding on berries fjord-likebays. These bays are characterizedby steep, and othervegetation until the onset of wintermakes that forested hillsides and are fed by numerousanadromous food supply unavailable. They enter their winter dens fish streams draining heavily timbered U-shaped can- usually in October and November. yons. Most of the bays are borderedby narrow strips With primaryfood sources consisting of anadromous of grass-sedge vegetation that spread out to form large salmonids and vegetation associated with early stages deltas at the heads of the bays. Extensive, dense stands of postglacial succession, and a lack of competition of a Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)-western hemlock from other mammalianspecies, brown bears probably (Tsuga heterophylla) consociation, which is the dom- became relatively abundantfairly soon after they col- inant vegetative type, reach to an elevation of about onized the ABC islands. 264 BEARS - THEIR BIOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT b. f4 1 RALTYIS 7 - HOOD BAY GAME - FREDERICKSOUND 0 80 161 KM Fig. 1. Southeast Alaska. POPULATION LEVELS Klein (1958) tested the track count technique on Much has been writtenon the abundanceof bears on AdmiraltyIsland and found it unreliableexcept for local the ABC islands since Holzworth's (1930) account of situations. Expanding his Admiralty Island data, he his photographicexpeditions there in the late 1920's. estimated the populationon the ABC islands as 1,800 The first attempt to enumerate bears was made by bears in 1958. Dufresne and Williams (1932) in a cooperative study A U.S. Forest Service study from 1960 through between the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Game 1966 (Perensovich 1966), using aerial censuses and Commission. That study covered Admiralty Island track counts, made no population estimates but con- only and was based on track counts made while bears cluded that there were no data to suggest declines in were concentratedalong fish streams during the sum- population during the period of that study. Peren- summer. They estimated that 900 bears inhabited Ad- sovich's study was aimed primarily at measuring the miralty Island. Estimates based on track counts also impact of logging on bears. A similar study was con- indicated940 bears for ChichagofIsland in 1938 (Hol- tinued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game brook 1938) and445 bearsfor Baranof-Kruzofislands in until 1968 (Lentfer et al. 1969). At that time, it was 1939 (Holbrook 1939) - a total of 2,285 bears for the concludedthat althoughthe aerialcensus techniquewas ABC islands. not satisfactoryfor populationestimation, the data col- BROWN BEAR MANAGEMENT* Johnson 265 lected did indicate no appreciablechanges in popula- tection of bears was the New York Zoological Society, tion densities. with J. M. Holzworth its spokesman(Senate hearings, More recently, a population study conducted at 1932). Admiralty and Chichagof islands received the Hood Bay on Admiralty Island from 1971 to 1975 most attention.The philosophiesof the two factions are (Wood 1976) estimated a population of 72-105 bears summarizedand fairly well representedin a manage- from ratios obtained throughobservations of tagged to ment plan for AdmiraltyIsland publishedjointly by the untaggedbears. Previous estimates for Hood Bay were Alaska Game Commission and the U.S. Forest Service 49 by Dufresne and Williams (1932) and 20 by Klein (Heintzleman and Terhune 1934). Portions of that (1958). Although past studies varied considerably in plan, which were adopted and incorporatedin Alaska technique, technology, and objectives, all indicated game regulations, do not differ greatly from present that bears were abundantand none suggested popula- philosophies of the Alaska Department of Fish and tion declines. Game, e.g., the plan suggested holding the annualkill In addition to data on bear population densities and from AdmiraltyIsland at 35 animals, which is similar status, studies have provided informationon the repro- to our currentrecommendation. Developmental inter- ductive biology of brown bears in GMU 4. Klein ests, however, generally have not complied with (1958), from 555 bear observations, found that cubs- anotherobjective of the plan: "Other resources will be of-the-yearcomposed 9.7 percentof the populationand so managedas not to cause a diminutionof the number yearlings and older cubs represented11.9 percent. Lit- of these animals." Although no cutting of timber was ter sizes were 2.2 for cubs-of-the-year and 1.9 for recommended in areas of heavy bear concentrations, yearlings and older cubs. Perensovich (1966), in a some fairly extensive clearcuttinghas occurredon the sample of 190 bears, found litter size in cubs-of-the- southern portion of the island. A long-term logging year to be 2.1 and in older cubs to be 1.6. contract, first signed in 1966 but since canceled, was Johnson (1974, 1976, 1977) reported litter size of also not in accord with the intent of the plan. cubs-of-the-yearto be 1.75 and of and older yearling Brown bear hunting on the ABC islands can be di- cubs, 2.0. Cubs of all ages represented22.6 of percent vided into three ratherdistinct periods - before 1925, the 31 individualbears seen in 1973, 31 percent of the 1925-59, and 1960 to the present. Regulations gov- 32 individualbears seen in 1974, and 24 of the percent erning bear hunting during these are sum- 21 individual bears seen in 1975. No periods cubs-of-the-year marizedin Table 1. Before 1925, there were few were seen in 1974. All observationswere made in regu- May lations governing the taking of bears in Alaska. Al- and June in Hood Bay on AdmiraltyIsland. These data though harvest records are scanty, the ABC islands indicate that cub productionand survival in southeast- were well known for their bear-huntingpotential. A. ern Alaska have been quite consistent, at least since Hasselborg, a homesteaderwho lived on AdmiraltyIs- 1958. They are similar to data from other coastal parts land for many years, reportedlykilled more than 300 of Alaska (Klein 1958, Lentferet al. Glenn et al. 1969, bears and sold over 200 of them to museums 1976).
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