Draft Black Bear Conservation Plan for California available for comment until June 14, 2024

[sierrahunter]

The State of California has produced a Draft Black Bear Conservation Plan, which will fundamentally change how it manages black bears (see link below).

• The plan will change how California determines if bear populations are healthy. Instead of using bear tooth aging to establish population size and status (which is very outdated), the plan would use integrated population modeling, which is much more accurate. Using this methodology, California estimates there are 65,000 black bears in the State, which is much higher than previous estimates.
• The plan divides the State of CA into 5 "Bear Conservation Regions" within which bear populations will be monitored and managed (including harvest limits). This would open the opportunity for regionally specific tags, but I have not read that this is the intent.
• The plan itself does not indicate management decisions, and instead leaves that to subsequent F&G Commission deliberations.

The goals of the plan are twofold: 1) to conserve black bear populations that are abundant..., and 2) provide opportunities for black bear hunting, viewing, etc. To accomplish the first goal, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will have to establish that populations are not declining, as before. This seems reasonable, but they are using a 90% confidence threshold to determine this. This is unusual, as typically, scientific literature uses a 95% confidence threshold to determine significance. It essentially means that the State could curtail hunting opportunities if they are 90% confident that bear populations are declining. I don't like this and commented on it, but they won't change it.

I can see at least one potentially vulnerability with the plan. The Humane Society has managed to eliminate bobcat hunting in California because they argued that there was insufficient data to know anything about their populations. This bear conservation plan sets a fairly high bar for monitoring that I'm not sure the State will be able to accomplish given fluctuating budgets. If the State cannot monitor according to the plan, will they cease bear hunting or be vulnerable to litigation to that end?

This plan will receive very little comment from hunters and a great deal of comment from the humane society and other "antis". Please consider sending a comment from a hunter's perspective at the below link (the plan is there, too). Such comments let the Commission know that hunters are watching this process.

 

[dhatter9]

Maybe @Howl For Wildlife can lend a hand with this too.

 

[KMW831]

The State of California has produced a Draft Black Bear Conservation Plan, which will fundamentally change how it manages black bears (see link below).

• The plan will change how California determines if bear populations are healthy. Instead of using bear tooth aging to establish population size and status (which is very outdated), the plan would use integrated population modeling, which is much more accurate. Using this methodology, California estimates there are 65,000 black bears in the State, which is much higher than previous estimates.
• The plan divides the State of CA into 5 "Bear Conservation Regions" within which bear populations will be monitored and managed (including harvest limits). This would open the opportunity for regionally specific tags, but I have not read that this is the intent.
• The plan itself does not indicate management decisions, and instead leaves that to subsequent F&G Commission deliberations.

The goals of the plan are twofold: 1) to conserve black bear populations that are abundant..., and 2) provide opportunities for black bear hunting, viewing, etc. To accomplish the first goal, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will have to establish that populations are not declining, as before. This seems reasonable, but they are using a 90% confidence threshold to determine this. This is unusual, as typically, scientific literature uses a 95% confidence threshold to determine significance. It essentially means that the State could curtail hunting opportunities if they are 90% confident that bear populations are declining. I don't like this and commented on it, but they won't change it.

I can see at least one potentially vulnerability with the plan. The Humane Society has managed to eliminate bobcat hunting in California because they argued that there was insufficient data to know anything about their populations. This bear conservation plan sets a fairly high bar for monitoring that I'm not sure the State will be able to accomplish given fluctuating budgets. If the State cannot monitor according to the plan, will they cease bear hunting or be vulnerable to litigation to that end?

This plan will receive very little comment from hunters and a great deal of comment from the humane society and other "antis". Please consider sending a comment from a hunter's perspective at the below link (the plan is there, too). Such comments let the Commission know that hunters are watching this process.

Maybe it's because I'm viewing on my phone, or because the comment period has past, but I'm not seeing a link?

 

[sierrahunter]

Maybe it's because I'm viewing on my phone, or because the comment period has past, but I'm not seeing a link?

I thought I had included the link. Here you go.

Black Bear

 

[chanson_roland]

This might affect some opinions...

 

[Howl For Wildlife]

Maybe @Howl For Wildlife can lend a hand with this too.

We appreciate the tag and yes, we are on this!

HOWL: 2024 California Bear Conservation Plan

DEADLINE FOR THIS IS June 14, 4pmPST. Dear CDFW Leadership, Wildlife Managers and Commissioners, HOWL for Wildlife is pleased to submit the attached comments on the 2024 Bear Conservation Plan (Draft). HOWL is a non-profit organization focused on nurturing grassroots hunting, conservation...

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