New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bob Martin gave final approval Wednesday to the state’s Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy, a plan that includes the state’s first black bear hunt since 2005. Martin says the hunt will allow the state to deal with an overpopulation of bears and the problems they are causing, especially in northern New Jersey.
“It is refreshing to see the new administration in New Jersey relying on science and hunting as a proven means of managing wildlife populations,” said Darren La Sorte, NRA manager of hunting policy. “New Jersey’s citizens should be thankful that the emotion-driven policies of the Corzine administration are now nothing but a disappointing chapter in the state’s long history.
“The upcoming regulated hunt will decrease bear conflicts and ensure the continuation of a healthy, sustainable bear population for future generations. Hunters will once again have the opportunity to display what we have always known to be true—that they are the primary force behind America’s conservation and wildlife management efforts that have become the envy of the world.”
The policy also includes public education, research, bear habitat analysis and protection, non-lethal bear management techniques, and enhanced efforts to keep human food sources, especially household trash, away from bears to limit bear-human encounters.
“It is clear that a historical rise in public complaints regarding black bears is correlated with the growing bear population. This public safety issue cannot be ignored,” said Martin, who approved the new policy after it was reviewed and unanimously recommended by the state Fish and Game Council.
“This science- and fact-based policy recognizes that hunting is an important bear management tool in combination with non-lethal controls of problem bears, public education on coexisting with bears, and enforcement of laws to reduce conflicts between bears and people,” Martin said. “Although I respect that some New Jersey residents are opposed to hunting bears, hunting is the only proven and most cost-effective method of wildlife population control and it is utilized successfully by other states with viable bear populations.”
The bear population in northwestern New Jersey has grown from 500 bears in 1992 to more than 3,400 bears today, and bears have now been encountered in all 21 New Jersey counties. Although bear-related complaints vary from year to year due to environmental factors, serious bear incidents have increased commensurate with the black bear population, up by 96 percent from 2006 through 2009, according to DEP wildlife officials. There have been several encounters with aggressive black bears in recent weeks, they noted.
Despite responses to problem bears by DEP personnel and trained local police officers, bear complaints continue to rise. There were 1,261 black bear incidents, including 76 Category One aggressive incidents, reported to the DEP between Jan.1 and June 20 of this year. So far in 2010, 13 aggressive black bears have been euthanized, compared to eight bears during the same period in 2009, according to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. Many other aggressive bears have not been caught.
A black bear hunt would take place in December, concurrent with the six-day firearm deer hunting season, with specific rules to be set up by the DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife in coming months. It would be held in portions of a 1,000-square-mile area north of Route 80 in Morris, Sussex, Warren and Passaic counties.
While more than 9,000 comments were received by the state Fish and Game Council regarding the new policy, including many that opposed hunting, no scientifically proven alternative was presented, said Martin.
“This is a truly comprehensive new black bear policy that takes advantage of the most current management tools available to us and will properly guide us in managing this most valued wildlife resource,” he said.
Since the 1980s, New Jersey’s black bear population has been increasing and expanding southward and eastward from forested areas of northwestern New Jersey. There have been increased sightings of bears this year in many suburban towns and urban areas, where black bears have not previously been encountered.
The Fish and Game Council, in its July 13 decision in favor of the new policy, cited increasing damage to personal property and threats to public safety as key reasons for its vote. Home entries and attempted home entries by black bears have increased significantly since the late 1990s and remain unacceptably high despite intensive efforts to eliminate problem bears and despite intensive education efforts, the council stated.
“The council is not willing to continually subject the citizens of New Jersey to this level of risk to public safety and property damage from black bears, and so [New Jersey] must take the responsible action of reducing the bear population,’’ the council stated in its recommendation to Martin.
To review the entire bear managment policy, visit www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/bearpolicy10.htm.
