Current Projects
1. Bear Research, Management, and Education in New Jersey
Bear Trust is collaborating with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and East Stroudsburg University to develop a research study to measure the efficacy of wildlife-resistant containers in a community in New Jersey.
Bear Trust is committed to helping the study community become bear-resistant. As part of our Adopt-a-Dumpster Program in New Jersey, Bear Trust also seeks to measure the outcome in a scientific way.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. We know that bears in captivity cannot access trash in wildlife-resistant containers, but we do not have answers to questions like:
- Do bears stop frequenting areas when wildlife-resistant containers are installed?
- Do bears begin or increase alternative nuisance behaviors, such as breaking into homes and vehicles?
As the interface between humans and wildlife increases, these are important questions that Bear Trust, and our collaborators, are taking the lead on answering.
No other study to date has evaluated the response of black bears to the installation of wildlife-resistant containers in real-life situations.
To learn more about
the New Jersey Research Project, CLICK HERE
2. East Texas Black Bear Management Plan
Bear Trust is working with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, and numerous other stakeholders, to develop a long-range strategic management plan for black bears in Texas. This involves continued research and habitat studies for a growing wild population of black bears in Texas, and an analysis of the biological, social, political, and organizational factors that must be considered in implementing a management plan.
To learn more about the East Texas Project, CLICK HERE
3. Bear Research in Kentucky’s Central Appalachian Ecosystem
Bear Trust, as well as many KY state wildlife resource agencies, are helping to support research on black bears and roads in Kentucky. Investigators heading this black bear research are David S. Maehr, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Conservation Biology, University of Kentucky, and Jonathan W. Gassett, Ph.D., Director Wildlife Division for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. This research is part of MS student Rebekah Jensen's thesis.
To learn more about the Kentucky Project, CLICK HERE
4. Bear Management and Education in VA
Bear Trust has collaborated with the US Forest Service and the Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries to develop the Adopt-a-Dumpster Program in the Lake Moomaw area of Virginia. This area hosts over 20,000 recreation visitors annually and has experienced a dangerously sharp increase in the number of nuisance bear incidents over the past six years. To protect both humans and bears, the need for wildlife-resistant containers in this area is significant.
The US Forest Service began the installation of wildlife-resistant containers in the Lake Moomaw area during 2007, but was unable to complete the project due to severe budget constraints. The Adopt-a-Dumpster Program recognizes that rural communities and public land agencies frequently do not have the financial resources to purchase wildlife-resistant containers, even when nuisance incidents are significant and ongoing. Therefore, Bear Trust seeks to recruit sponsors from the private sector to help pay for the purchase of wildlife-resistant dumpsters for areas where wildlife, such as bears, are prone to take advantage of accumulated garbage—usually to their detriment.
As the relationship between Bear Trust and the US Forest Service has grown, Bear Trust discovered the need for an educational component of the Adopt-a-Dumpster Program. For the Program to fully succeed, visitors need to be educated about bear biology and human responsibility to properly store garbage. In addition, people in the community need to participate in the Program. Bear Trust is developing education material which will be made available to anyone via the Bear Trust website. The Forest Service personnel in the Lake Moomaw area have already enlisted volunteers from the community to learn the education material and teach it to visitors. In addition, the wildlife and forestry students at the Dabney S. Lancaster Community College have agreed to assist the Forest Service with the Adopt-a-Dumpster Program.
To learn more about the Virginia Bear Management Project, CLICK HERE
5. El Carmen, Coahuila State, Mexico
Bear Trust has developed a partnership relationship with CEMEX Corporation's El Carmen Project in northern Mexico. CEMEX, one of the largest cement companies in the world, owns several hundred thousand acres in the El Carmen Natural Area, and seeks to protect and restore the native flora and fauna of Maderas del Carmen Ecosystem in northern Coahuila , Mexico.
Updates on the El Carmen Project are coming soon!
6. Bear Management in the Clam Lake area, WI
Bear Trust has collaborated with the US Forest Service, the Department of Natural Resources, and the National Wildlife Federation to develop the Adopt-a-Dumpster Project in Wisconsin. Because the Clam Lake area in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest has been identified as an area where black bear nuisance incidents are on the rise, Bear Trust selected this area for the Adopt-a-Dumpster Demonstration Project. In August 2007, Bear Trust implemented the first phase of the Project by installing eleven 3-yard wildlife-resistant dumpsters at the Clam Lake area.
To learn more about the Wisconsin Bear Management Program, CLICK HERE
Past Projects
1. International Association for Bear Research and Management
Bear Trust frequently contributes to IBA to help fund projects and programs that the world’s leading bear biologists have agreed are essential cornerstones to address the priority conservation needs of the world’s bears.
2. 18th and 19th Eastern Black Bear Workshops
Bear Trust sponsored both workshops in 2005 and 2007 and donated Bear Trust items as give-aways to attendees.
3. Black Bears in the Rattlesnake River Area, Missoula MT
This is a University of Montana research project to study the impact of development in the Rattlesnake River area of western Montana related to black bears, and is part of Montana’s Living with Wildlife program.
4. Western Black Bear Workshop
Bear Trust was a major sponsor for the WBBW held in April 2006 at the NRA Whittington Center outside Raton, New Mexico. Bear Trust also donated two signed Monte Dolack prints of Bears of the World for a raffle. Bonnie McKinney, CEMEX, was the Bear Trust ambassador at the meeting.
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