Summer intern and Colby College senior Megan Chun contributed to MRG’s on-going black bear research study within Westchester, Putnam and Fairfield counties. Preserve Steward Jean-Luc Plante was busy putting up and checking remote cameras again this spring. He noticed that the cameras were not capturing as many bears as in the previous year; anecdotally, MRG staff and the general public have seen many more bears!
One theory is that the lure used to attract bears toward the camera previously was a very stinky “predator” lure. This year they switched to a sweet, caramel-scented lure and a blueberry-scented lure. Perhaps the bears didn’t like them? Perhaps the very rainy spring washed away all of the scents? These are hypotheses that cannot be measured but are worth considering.
Megan and Jean-Luc worked with other volunteer researchers from Teatown Lake Reservation, Great Hollow Preserve, Highstead, and other agencies and organizations across the region to look at black bear occupancy and movement. In the 10-week period that the cameras were up, they took 55,757 pictures, and Megan combed through each photo looking for bears. In all, she found 256 pictures of 7 different bears at 5 camera locations across the study area, with all bears being in either Putnam or Fairfield County, much less than in previous years. She charted the difference in the number and location of bears captured on camera to compare the year-on-year data. Bear sighting reports from the public also significantly help in determining how bears are moving through the region. Going forward, MRG will be studying whether bears are breeding in more densely populated areas than in previous years.
Megan was a fun student to work with, and we hope that her time at Mianus River Gorge has inspired her to continue her studies in the environmental sciences and choose a career in this field.
Thank you to the Bedford Garden Club for its generous support of a summer intern in Mianus River Gorge’s College Internship in Suburban Ecology.