25¢ Continued on page 1 E E FALL VOLUME XXIX, NO. 3 he last hint of alpine glow is fading off Half Dome as Yosemite’s GUIDE GUIDE Members of Yosemite’s bear management team ready for an evening’s work (from left, Kate McCurdy, Joe Madison, Tori Seher). T bear management team heads to work each evening. During the summer and fall months, bears will keep us busy on our night shift with black bears can until the sun again rises over park. Working at times be exciting, other serious. But it is never dull, and this season we have added a few new elements to our program. We’re sending bears back to school in a mission keep them not only alive, but wild. by Kate McCurdy OSEMIT Back to School for Bears OSEMIT YOUR KEY TO VISITING THE PARK SEPTEMBER 5 – NOVEMBER 13, 2000 Y Y Look Inside! Information • Planning Your Visit • Planning Your • Important Road Valley Shuttle Valley Bus Map . Back Panel Park Map . 8 & 9 Park Rules . 2 Bears . 3 Camping . 4 Backpacking & Day Hikes.Valley . 5 Activities . 10 – 12 Facilities & Services . 14 & 15 NewsYosemite . 6 Nature Notes. 7 Yosemite, CA 95389 P.O. Box 577 National Park Service of the Interior U.S. Department Shuttle Bus Route 8 Shuttle Bus Stop Trail to Yosemite Falls Upper Trail to Bicycle Path Yosemite Snow Creek Fall and Hiking Trail Tuolumne Meadows Campground N Picnic Area Lower Yosemite Royal Restroom Map not to scale Fall Arches P Parking Yosemite Village Half Yosemite Valley Destination Areas i Dome Visitor Medical V Yosemite Village C Curry Village Center Clinic L Yosemite Lodge A The Ahwahnee L Church 3 Bowl Information i 7 4 A A Mirror Lake 8 2 The Yosemite Ahwahnee Lodge 10 6 9 k 1 Columbia e e Day Rock r C Parking ite Camp 4 em Chapel os k (Sunnyside) Y Housekeeping ee Walk-in 5 Cr Camp ya Tena Lower North El Capitan LeConte Pines Swinging V Memorial 11 Pines Stable Bridge Lodge 17 18 16 This map should not 20 M Me er rce Riv 12 e d 19 13 rc be used for hiking. ed P R Curry 14 ive Trail maps are available Village Upper r Sentinel Pines for purchase at visitor Beach Campground C Reservation centers and stores Office throughout the park. Yellow Glacier Pine Point Sentinel Dome 15 No rths e ide Driv e Four Mile riv Trail to P e D Glacier hsid Vernal Sout Point Fall Nature d Center Trail to R at Sentinel t n Happy Dome i o Isles P r e i Trail from c Glacier Trail to Vernal a l Point to Vernal & Fall G Vernal & Nevada Footbridge Mist Trail Nevada Falls Falls Seasonal John Muir Trail RIDE THE FREE A The Ahwahnee 7 Visitor Center 14 Upper Pines Campground 1 Yosemite Village/Day Parking 8 Yosemite Village 15 Happy Isles* Postage and Fees Paid YOSEMITE VALLEY 2 Yosemite Village 9 Yosemite Village/Day Parking 16 Mirror Lake* U.S. Department HUTTLE US Third Class Mail S B Schedules and routes may vary. 3 Visitor Center 10 Sentinel Bridge/ 17 Stable* of the Interior Shuttle buses operate daily at 20-minute intervals, 4 Yosemite Falls Yosemite Chapel Parking 18 Pines Campgrounds except during early morning and late evening hours (Service ends 8:00 p.m. through when intervals may be 30 minutes. All buses follow the 11 Housekeeping Camp/ same route, serving stops in numerical order. October 22; Service ends at 5:00 p.m. 19 Curry Village from October 23 though November 13) LeConte Memorial Lodge G-83 SCHEDULE: 20 Bike & Raft Rental September 5 – October 1, 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. 5 Yosemite Lodge/Camp 4 12 Bike & Raft Rental * Service ends at 8:30 p.m.; October 2 – November 13, 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. 6 Yosemite Lodge 13 Curry Village Closes for season October 22 YYOSEMITOSEMITEE GUIDEGUIDE YOUR KEY TO VISITING THE PARK FALL SEPTEMBER 5 – NOVEMBER 13, 2000 VOLUME XXIX, NO. 3 Back to School for Bears Continued from front cover On this night, our first call takes us into ment, bear management, and trash food elsewhere, undoubt- a Yosemite Valley campground where a removal. These measures have helped to edly to areas where natural small yearling bear is tearing into a bag improve the bear situation dramatically. food sources are abundant of potato chips, oblivious to a growing By the end of 1999, the number of bear- and humans are not. crowd of onlookers. While the bear’s human incidents was reduced by over attention is on the ill-gotten snack from half from the year before. A LIFE-SAVING an unattended campsite, our rangers’ One concern remains. Even though LESSON technique to interrupt this destructive bears now rarely get unnatural foods Evidence that this effort behavior is startling to both bear and wit- from humans in Yosemite, a handful of would work was seen early nesses. them have been slow to abandon camp- on during our trials. A First the bear is hit with a rubber plug grounds, picnic areas, and parking lots as large bear, wearing both that is fired from a shotgun. The bear foraging grounds. These bears, which may a radio collar and ear tags, immediately drops the bag of chips and have been augmenting their diets with was seen by a wildlife turns toward the woods. Next a firecrack- human food for years, appear to be ranger peering into a car er or “green weenie” screamer is launched unwilling to return to wholly natural at 2:30 one morning in a from a starter pistol, causing the bear to diets. Curry Village parking lot. flee in earnest. The bear management He loaded a rubber slug team sprints after the bear, tracking it RE-EDUCATING BEARS and a firecracker round with help from the park’s bear dog until it Seeking solutions to this problem is into a shotgun and fired is well clear of the area. These efforts may what makes the job of a bear manager both at the bear from a seem extreme, but they are effective in interesting. In May we were given distance of twenty yards. teaching bears to avoid humans, and unprecedented authority to try some- The bear was one rangers provide a sign of hope for such bears. thing that, although common in other knew well. On any other national parks, has not been tried in night she would have con- BACK TO BASICS Yosemite. It’s called “bear hazing”, and tinued her pilgrimage to There was an era, prior to the installa- it’s the act of instilling a fear of humans find food in a car, broken tion of food storage lockers, when bears through the use of negative stimulus. Our out its window, and eaten obtained food from campsites and vehi- goal is simple: provide an intense incen- until satiated. But on this cles in campgrounds every night. Many tive for bears to leave developed areas night, she was so fright- of these bears became increasingly aggres- and instead return to the park’s abundant ened by the rubber bullet sive towards humans and had to be meadows, woodlands, and other prime and the firecracker round The author with her Karelian Bear Dog, “Logan”. Photo by Lesley Gourley destroyed. Fortunately, bears in Yosemite feeding habitats. that she leapt three feet have recently been granted much better The tools that we are employing to in the air and fled with protection. All overnight guests now have assist us in hazing are sometimes very incredible speed from the area. adequate access to bear-proof metal lock- basic. Many bears respond well to simply Since that night, our notorious bear ers for the safe storage of their food. The being yelled at and chased, or hit with an has not been seen in a developed area. park no longer has trash cans that bears acorn fired from a slingshot. Other times The signal from her radio collar now tells TO LEARN can get into. And rangers work around we use a Karelian Bear Dog (see page 7) us that she has returned to the west end MORE… the clock to prevent human-bear conflicts to aggressively chase and bark at bears. of Yosemite Valley, were she can forage through public education, law enforce- Depending on the bear and the circum- for natural food and avoid humans, Four afternoons per week stances, we also haze bears using their vehicles, and future frightening you can go on a bear walk rubber shotgun slugs, firecrack- encounters. We feel this learning experi- with a ranger. See pages ers, and other pyrotechnics to ence, although unpleasant for her at the 10 – 12 for schedule of elicit a flight response. time, provided a lesson to the bear that activities. very well could save her life. Read more about bears So, if a loud report wakes you from A+ SUCCESS and proper food storage your midnight slumber while you are We are encouraged by how on page 3; “Logan,” the staying in Yosemite, accept our apologies. well bears have responded. Even park’s Karelian Bear Dog, It is not our intent to disrupt vacations; the most challenging bears have is featured on page 7. it is to keep bears alive. Please take a shown behavior changes after a moment while you are awake to double- hazing experience. The main check your campsite to ensure that it is reason for this success is simple. clean and your bear box is securely shut.