Project Title: New Jersey Project
Conservation Initiatives Addressed: Bear Research, Management, and Education
Special Program: Adopt-a-Dumpster Program
Location: A Community in New Jersey
Collaborators: New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, East Stroudsburg University
Project Duration: 2008-2010
Overview of the New Jersey Project:
Bear Trust is collaborating with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and East Stroudsburg University to conduct scientific research to measure the efficacy of wildlife-resistant containers. This is important because conservation and management actions should be based on sound science. Currently, the scientific and management communities do not know how bears respond to the installation of wildlife-resistant dumpsters in real-life situations. Do bears stop frequenting areas when wildlife-resistant containers are installed? Do bears begin or increase behaviors such as breaking into homes and vehicles? As the interface between humans and wildlife increases, the answers to these questions will have significant implications for wildlife management and community planning.
Research Plan for the New Jersey Project:
This research will include treatment dumpsters (wildlife-resistant dumpsters) and control dumpsters (regular dumpsters), as well as pre-treatment and post-treatment data. We began trapping bears during spring 2008 and will continue until all new tracking collars are attached to bears. We have been tracking bear movements during spring 2008 (i.e., pre-treatment data) and will continue to track bears throughout 2008. We will also track bear movements during 2009 (i.e., post-treatment data). In addition, we will monitor bear activity at dumpster sites using motion-sensitive cameras during both 2008 and 2009.
During early spring 2009, before bears emerge from their dens, a minimum of 8 regular dumpsters in the study site will be replaced with wildlife-resistant dumpsters. Simultaneously, a minimum of 8 regular dumpsters will remain to serve as controls. Hard-working, blue collar communities like that in our study area frequently do not have the financial resources to purchase large wildlife-resistant dumpsters, even when bear-human conflicts are significant. Bear Trust seeks to help such communities by recruiting sponsors from the private sector to help pay for the purchase of wildlife-resistant dumpsters.
In addition to assessing the effect of wildlife-resistant containers on bear movements, a survey will be done to measure the success of wildlife-resistant containers in terms of human dimensions.
Education Component of the New Jersey Project:
Bear Trust is deeply committed to education. One goal of the New Jersey Project is to educate children by engaging them with a novel opportunity to participate in scientific research. Children will have free access to real-time scientific data that we collect on bears. On a regular basis, we will update the data on the Bear Trust website (www.beartrust.org) so that children can keep track of bear movements (via radio telemetry data) and bear activity at dumpsters (via photos from motion-sensitive cameras). Bear Trust will provide instructions on how to design mini research projects, including hypotheses development, data analyses, and report writing. Bear Trust will also provide a way for children to ask a bear biologist questions as they develop and progress through their research.
Bear Trust envisions this project to be an education portal for children where they participate in real life environmental science. Our aim is to teach children about the scientific method, math, conservation, human responsibility in wildlife habitat, and wildlife biology. We hope to empower and inspire children to become actively engaged in conservation, the natural environment, and their communities.
Goals for the New Jersey Project:
The project in New Jersey will meet the following goals: 1) address the issue of bear-human conflicts, 2) increase human safety, 3) increase the probability of bear survival by decreasing the number of bears that become habituated to humans and garbage, 4) provide scientific information regarding how bears respond to wildlife-resistant containers in real-life situations, 5) provide novel scientific research opportunities for children, 6) foster community participation, and, 7) serve as a model for other communities that exist in bear habitat.
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