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In Catskills, Learning to Live Near Bears
Published: August 21, 2005
WOODSTOCK, N.Y., Aug. 17 - It's not as if anyone here needed another reminder that this is bear country, what with the ever-popular Bear Café and road signs pointing to Bearsville, an aptly named hamlet in this town.
A black bear was trapped last summer after it broke into a house in Woodstock several times in a week.
But now, thanks to an education campaign to promote peaceful coexistence between humans and bears, there are also three "bear-o-meters" at prominent intersections, indicating whether bear activity is low, medium or high. (It's high, all right.)
Lawn signs have sprouted, too, declaring: "I'm a good neighBEAR. I don't feed the bears!" And brochures and refrigerator magnets were recently mailed to all residents explaining what steps they can take to discourage black bears from lumbering onto their property in search of their next meal.
Among the strategies: putting out garbage only on the morning of pickup; hanging bird feeders only in winter, when bears are asleep in their dens; immediately washing dirty barbecue grills; and feeding pets only indoors.
"It's all about the food," explained Meredith Gore, a graduate research assistant studying wildlife management at Cornell University. She is spearheading the campaign.
While the Catskills haven't had quite the number of problems with bears that New Jersey has, the bear population has climbed steadily since the 1970's. In recent years, more and more residents have complained about encounters with bears in their yards.
The only recorded fatality from a bear in the wild in state history occurred in Sullivan County three summers ago, when a 5-month-old died after a bear snatched her from a stroller in a bungalow community.
After the death, state environmental officials started an outreach program focusing primarily on Sullivan County, where the summer population quadruples, but also on Ulster County, where Woodstock is. Earlier this year, Ms. Gore, who is working on a doctorate, approached the state about starting more intensive awareness initiatives in two pilot communities: Warwick, in Orange County, and Woodstock.
"We embraced the concept," said Bill Rudge, the natural resources supervisor for the state Department of Environmental Conservation's Region 3, which includes much of the Catskills. "We wanted to do more."
The reasoning behind the education awareness campaign holds that changes in human behavior can reduce unpleasant encounters between bears and humans. Complaints about bears in the Catskill Mountains have fallen by half this summer over last year, officials say, although it is too early to tell whether that is a result of the education efforts.
"I'd like to think it's because of the outreach program, and I think people are starting to change their behavior," Mr. Rudge said. "But it's also a very good year for bears' natural foraging for berries and nuts."
State officials are keeping a close eye on the bear population. There are 1,200 to 1,500 bears in the Catskills, one of three black bear ranges in New York. The others are the Allegany range in the Southern Tier, with 500 bears, and the Adirondacks, with 5,000 bears.
In the Catskills, the number of bears has risen steadily from about 600 in the 1970's, when hunting was briefly suspended to encourage the population. Biologists attribute the increase to the reforestation of large swaths of former farmland, as well as a growing number of second homes in mountainous communities like Woodstock.
Unlike New Jersey, where debates have raged over whether to reintroduce bear hunting, New York has long embraced hunting as a way to manage the population. This year, state officials decided to lengthen the bear hunting season, which in the Catskills will run from Nov. 21 to Dec. 11. Last year, 257 bears were killed in the Catskills.
For some residents of Woodstock, a longstanding arts colony for which the 1969 rock festival was named, the presence of bears has become a source of anxiety. "It was wonderful seeing bears," said Ellen Foreman, a retired college professor. "They came at all different times of the year, and they would play. But then they got destructive."
Ms. Foreman's neighbors Jim and Mary Anna Cox shared a particularly harrowing bear story. Last summer, a black bear broke through a French door and into their kitchen several times in a week, even after the door was boarded up. One night, Mr. Cox, who owns an art gallery, had to beat the bear back with a fireplace shovel.
"Remember the scene in 'The Birds,' with the birds pecking through the door?" he said. "Well, this was claws coming through the door."
State environmental officials finally trapped the bear in the Coxes' backyard and moved it 40 miles. Mr. Rudge said it was not killed because officials were not positive it was the bear that had invaded the house.
Now it's back, apparently. Biologists have followed the bear, which is wearing a collar equipped with a tracking device, to within a half-mile of the Coxes' six-acre property. Still, Mr. Rudge said: "This is potentially a very positive story. At least thus far, the bear that we trapped is not breaking into houses this year."
Mrs. Cox, an avid bird-watcher, still can't resist having a couple of bird feeders hanging from a tree outside her kitchen window.
"In reality, is it easier to change human behavior or bear behavior?" Ms. Gore asked later, as she prepared to hang up a few more posters with pointers about being a good neighBEAR.
