Bears Are Waking from Hibernation

Written by Rick Spitzer | Mar 19, 2023 12:15:00 AM

This article is from the Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable.

Photographs by Rick Spitzer (except as noted.)

We are approaching mid-March and black bears will be waking up from hibernation. Females may have from 1-4 cubs or yearlings that come out of the den with them. Up to 5 bears in that one den, and they all emerge from the dens hungry.

We need to back up a little. What is hibernation? Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and a reduction of metabolic processes. Many animals hibernate to get them through the winter when the environmental conditions are difficult to deal with and food sources are basically non-existent. Hibernation results in low body-temperature, depressed breathing and heart rate, and a low metabolic rate.

Black bears have an incredible sense of smell and that often draws them to homes where cooking odors and trash odors are irresistible.

A hibernating animal is a biological wonder. During hibernation, black bears lose from 15-30% of their body mass! During that time, they generally do not eat, drink, defecate, or urinate. They don't suffer bone loss, muscle atrophy, or even bedsores. All their nutritional needs are met from the massive amount of food they ate before they crawled into their dens. Females may give birth to 1-4 cubs during hibernation that are almost fetal-like. The female provides milk to the young, all based on the reserves she built up in the fall.

What is the reality of what this means to the bears and humans in Eagle County? We, the residents of Eagle County need to be "bear aware" to allow us to live with the wildlife around us. How do we do that and where does the information come from to help the bears.

The Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable (CWR) is a collaborative partnership with the White River National Forest, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, local government entities, community members, and citizen scientists. The purpose of the Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable is to gather a group of diverse stakeholders in the valley to understand and address issues facing wildlife populations.

Together the Roundtable will identify a shared vision and realistic actions that the community can rally around to support wildlife. The CWR wants to leverage diverse values, creativity, and resources to move toward positive action. Wildlife, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation are important to Eagle County, Colorado residents. The vast majority of whom hold positive attitudes about wildlife and want to see wildlife populations and corresponding habitat sustained over time.

In Eagle County black bears are frequently around our homes and we may be totally unaware of them. Allan Finney Photo

Bears share space with our rapidly growing human population. Black bears are curious, intelligent, and very resourceful. They will explore all possible food sources. If they find food near homes, campgrounds, vehicles, or communities, they come back for more, often creating human/bear conflicts. The females will work hard to get the calories they need to replace what is lost. In addition, they will be teaching their cubs where to find food. Finding an easy meal may cause damage to property, vehicles, and homes.

When CPW is made aware of problem bears, especially when conflicts first begin, wildlife officers can educate the community, make site visits to homes to help them secure attractants and can haze bears to reinforce their natural fear of humans. In specific circumstances, wildlife officers can attempt relocating bears out of conflict areas to alleviate safety concerns or before that animals behavior escalates to a dangerous level that may require euthanization. In the last three years, CPW has relocated 213 bears from sites of conflict, but wildlife officers stress that relocation is not a fix-all solution. There must be other options.

A unique funding opportunity to help communities reduce human-bear conflict was made available by the state in 2022. Local governments, organizations and individuals were encouraged to develop projects that reduce human-bear conflict and apply for funding to help. The local CPW staff applied for the “CPW Human Bear Conflict Reduction Community Grant” (https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/pages/LivingwithWildlifeWildBears.aspx) last year.

Black bears can climb trees to get to fruit or to move to safety. Allan Finney Photo

Unlike other applicants across Colorado, the Eagle and Roaring Fork valley counties and municipalities were represented through a grant application submitted by local CPW staff. The intent of this was to limit competition between our local governments and to unify our efforts in reducing human-black bear conflicts. Unifying efforts were critical given that the Eagle and Roaring Fork valleys combined account for the most human-bear conflicts in Colorado. As a result of the application, CPW, Eagle valley communities and Roaring Fork valley communities received $225,000 to be spent toward reducing human black bear conflicts.

Local CPW staff coordinated meetings with municipalities and counties to discuss strategies on how to best address this issue. Overwhelmingly communities supported purchasing bear resistant trash cans and education as the top two priorities. Other ideas included potential incentive programs for trading out fruit bearing trees and funding ordinance enforcement officers. CPW is currently working with each community to distribute funding toward projects and is actively working on launching a regional awareness campaign to better align messaging on how to avoid, prevent, and resolve conflicts with bears.

Help Keep Bears Wild!

Get in the habit of being bear-responsible. At first, its little extra effort, but soon it becomes a better way to live. And you can be proud you are helping to make Eagle County a better place for people and bears.

• Don’t feed bears, and don’t put out food for other wildlife that attracts bears.

• Keep bird feeders out of reach of bears.

• Only put trash cans on the morning of pick-up.

• Burn food off barbecue grills and clean after each use.

• Keep all bear-accessible windows and doors closed and locked, including home, garage and vehicle doors.

• Don’t leave food, trash, coolers, air fresheners or anything that smells in your vehicle.

• Pick fruit before it ripens, and clean up fallen fruit.

• Talk to your neighbors about doing their part to be bear-responsible.

The Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable will continue working with CPW on additional projects to help our community to become more “bear” aware. Please do your part to keep bears wild. Protect bears by being "Bear Aware", and share this information with your friends, neighbors, and community. Keep an eye out for more efforts and events coordinated by CPW and the Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable aimed at reducing human-bear conflict.

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The Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable is a collaborative partnership with the White River National Forest, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, local government entities, community members, and citizen scientists. The purpose of the Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable is to gather a group of diverse stakeholders in the valley to understand and address issues facing wildlife populations. Together we will identify a shared vision and realistic actions that the community can rally around to support wildlife. We want to leverage diverse values, creativity, and resources to move toward positive action.

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