Solstice for the bears exceeds expectations

SWAN VALLEY - More than 150 people crowded into the main lodge of the Oro Ranch on Saturday night, Dec. 14 in honor of a grizzly sow named Windfall, to raise money and ensure that future generations will see grizzlies in the meadows and forests of the Swan Valley.

"I am really surprised at the turnout, especially for a community of this size," newcomer Phil Grunis said above the noise in a room crowded with fellow bear lovers.

"We want to do everything we can to help make communities compatible for both wildlife and humans," he said.

Event organizer Kathy Koors said people were "Wowed" by the success of the party. The event exceeded everyone's expectations after more than $10,000 was raised, before match funding was applied. The money will support the Swan Valley Bear Resources in Condon.

"My heart is singing tonight," she said.

Koors began working on the fundraiser late last summer after repeatedly seeing a young black bear near the Owl Creek Packer Camp.

Koors owns Unleashed in the Swan, a local pet-sitting business that caters to dog and cat owners.

"Last summer I was driving Holland Lake Road every day, and every day I'd see this little black bear. I called him Baby Holland. I'd stop and tell him, 'You need to leave, this is not a good place for you,' and I'd 'shoo' him off. Then I'd go and tell the packer people, 'Make sure you keep your dog food in. We really don't want this bear to get habituated, and food conditioned.' So that went on for about three weeks. And finally, someone said to me, and not very nicely, 'Well who are you anyway?'"

"And I said, 'Well, I just really care about bears. This is not normal bear behavior, for me to see him every day in the same spot. He's getting food somewhere.' So that's how it started. I would talk back and forth with [friends] and I called Eric Wenum [Fish, Wildlife & Parks] and Eric came, and got involved."

And then came September, and a sow grizzly named "Windfall," was euthanized by officials at Condon. She had lost her fear of humans. She broke into buildings in search of food. Many people in the community had enjoyed seeing her with her three cubs. People were devastated by her death.

"We were all heartbroken about Windfall, every single one of us," Koors said.

A record 51 grizzlies died in 2019 in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, which includes Glacier National Park. In the Swan Valley, four grizzlies died from human causes: one who a hunter mistook for a black bear, two who were euthanized for repeat conflict behavior, and one cub who was hit on the highway.

Koors partnered with Deb and Andy Carstensen of the Oro Ranch to plan the fundraiser in honor of Windfall.

"Rather than sit around a campfire and sing songs, Deb said "Let's throw a party in honor of Windfall, and try and raise some money to get another bear ranger on the ground, to help get more trash containers on the ground, let people know when to pull bird feeders inside, that kind of thing," Koors explained.

Koors knows about bear rangers. In 2005, she wrote the first plan for Swan Valley Bear Resources while working for Swan Ecosystem Center (SEC). Anne Dahl, retired director of SEC, was Koors' supervisor then, and spoke at the bear party.

"Kathy has come to the rescue of bears before," Dahl explained. "2005 was another really bad year for bears. Kathy didn't want to see the Swan Valley become a sinkhole for bears."

SEC partnered with other groups, enlisted dozens of volunteers, then obtained dumpsters and distributed them to local businesses. The first bear rangers included Patti Sowka (from Wind River Bear Institute) and Mark Ruby (now Flathead National Forest wildlife biologist).

Today, Swan Valley Bear Resources, managed by Luke Lamar under the umbrella of Swan Valley Connections, continues to be successful, even while subdivisions and bears, are expanding into new areas.

According to Ryan Lutey, executive director of Vital Ground, both SVBR and Blackfoot Challenge are seen as premiere programs by wildlife specialists looking to prevent conflict between bears and humans. Both non-profit programs gave presentations to the Governor's Advisory Council on Grizzly Bears during recent committee meetings.

"Swan Valley Bear Resources got a lot of attention as far as being a good model," Lutey explained.

Vital Ground has helped fund SVBR since 2013. Vital Ground's mission is grizzly bear conservation.

Lutey has advice for citizens who want to help bears and their local communities. "The thing that works, that we see over and over again with our conservation easements, is not the agency or non-profit person coming to talk to you, as the representative, but you, as a neighbor, YOU have to plant that seed. You have to get people that bear resistant container, maybe at cost, or at a discount, or maybe for free. You have to plant that seed. And maybe it takes years. It should be somebody from within the community that is doing the education, rather than somebody from outside or even in the (non-profit) organization. People need to hear the message from their neighbors, somebody in a similar position, not a stranger."

And in a room full of bear lovers, at a holiday celebration, a lot of happy strangers learned that they were neighbors.

Deb Carstensen, co-owner of the Oro Ranch, hosted the event with her husband, Andy. Deb is a fourth generation Montanan and lived in Seeley Lake as a child, when her father worked at the mill.

"I have come full-circle, I have come home. This is our last best place, and we are thrilled to be here. One thing I have found, it is not just the landscape, it's the people," she said. And she, of course, loves bears.

"When we found out about Windfall, there was no hesitation. We wanted to open our home for this event."