Bears are asleep - but we aren't

Dear Editor,

The summer of 2022 in Western Montana was one for the record books! You might even call it the perfect storm. Here in Seeley we had record numbers of visitors coming to our area to recreate, our campgrounds were full, we saw an influx of new people moving into the area, we had unusually cold then warm weather which caused a poor berry crop throughout Western Montana including Seeley, and FWP personnel responded to over 1000 black bear conflict calls in region 2. Sadly, this is the norm for the Seeley lake area. Over the last 10 years FWP has noticed an increase in black bear and grizzly conflicts as result of the large numbers of attractants found in Seeley. Jamie Jonkel, FWP Bear Specialist, thinks that there are easily 100 food conditioned black bears and 10 food conditioned grizzlies that visit Seeley Lake on a regular basis. 

Tragically, a woman was mauled and killed by a grizzly bear in the neighboring town of Ovando in July of 2021. There’s a good chance that this bear had been trained up in Seeley Lake.

That same summer, shortly after the Ovando mauling, Seeley had a similar incident in a private camping area where a grizzly entered a tent. Fortunately no one was injured. 

Would it surprise you to know that the town of Seeley Lake has the second highest number of human/bear conflicts in all of Western Montana? Seeley Lake has a problem. If we can’t figure out a way to get everyone on board to clean up these bear attractants will we have the next tragedy? 

Geographically, the Clearwater Valley is a veritable bear highway. Multiple drainages act as funnels to move grizzly and black bears through our area as they migrate and travel looking for food sources.

Our valley is also a magnet for people who want to live here and enjoy the beauty and wildlife. In a perfect scenario the bears would move through unnoticed, navigating around the man-made obstacles and temptations, and have no conflicts with humans. Unfortunately, that is not the case. All along their path bears are tempted into

bad behavior by easy food sources such as garbage, bird feed, and pet food. Who can blame them? If you were hungry would you turn down a fresh plate of cookies if it was just sitting there? 

The problem is fairly obvious. What is the solution? People are not going to stop desiring to live and recreate in our beautiful valley, we have no control over the weather, forest fires, and berry crops, and the bears are unlikely to abandon their generational knowledge of natural food sources in their home range. What we don’t want is them discovering unnatural food sources in Seeley Lake. Is this a lose/lose situation? Or with some creative thinking and hard work can it become a win/win? 

Are you interested in joining a group of Seeley Lake residents who are tackling this very problem? We want to hear your thoughts on bears in the Clearwater Valley. Please visit us at Clearwater Wildlife on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/580717550363690 or reach out at teaguemt@gmail.com.