©Bert Gildart: Last week while I was hiking along the bear-rich trail that descends from Piegan Pass into Many Glacier, Janie was hiking the trail from the same valley toward the grizzly-rich country leading to Iceberg Lake. While my hiking companion, Matt, and I saw but one bear, Janie and her hiking companion, Bonnie, saw many more. In fact, one hiker ran up to her and asked, “But didn’t you see the two bears on the ledge right over your head.”

No question about it, this is an incredible time to see bears, but I must add quickly that we try to be circumspect. For instance, even though I want excellent photographs, I maintain my distance using extreme lenses. The head shot of the bear feeding on berries is cropped–and substantially so. All others, however, were as taken as I saw them through the viewfinder of my Nikon D-300 and the 800mm I had attached.

THERE ARE RISKS

Understanding that there are risks, there is no better time for bear watchers to visit the Many Glacier Valley of Glacier National Park than right now. Service berries are rich and juicy, and naturalist Bob Schuster, says the lush clumps are drawing in bears like so many magnets.

For Schuster, this also means his various programs tend to attract lots of interested visitors, and attendance at such talks is always included in a part of my visit.

Essentially, those instructional gatherings include his Watchable Wildlife program and his evening naturalist talks. Typically, he’ll caution people about bears, telling them not to hike alone, but telling them that with prudence they are probably safer in the park’s bear country than they were driving to the park.

“Dogs,” says the naturalist, “injure more people than do bears.”

CAREFULLY MANAGED

In addition to berries, another reason the Many Glacier area might provide such great viewing opportunities is that the area is so carefully managed. Frequently, rangers might close the park’s best trails for seeing bears, and that’s the one on which Janie and Bonnie were hiking: the Iceberg Lake Trail.

“Generally,” said Schuster, “we close the trail because there’s an animal’s carcass attracting bears, because we’ve had report of an aggressive bear, or simply because lots of bears are congregating. Right now, we’ve got seven known bears on the side of Mount Altyn. If numbers keep building, we may have to shut down the area.”

To further help bears, this year the park implemented another management procedure. This year biologists created five corridors along the Many Glacier road that restrict people from stopping.

GAWKING PEOPLE

“It’s to give bears a little more privacy,” said Bob. “It gives them the freedom to move from the mountains and out toward the grasslands along Lake Sherburne. Now they don’t have to wade through stacks of stopped cars with people gawking.”

More than likely, if you drive the road, you’ll find that Schuster, or one of the other naturalists or volunteers, has interspersed him- or herself between the bear corridors, and here you’ll find them conducting their Watchable Wildlife program.

In the evening, they give presentations at either the Many Glacier Lodge or at the park’s amphitheater. Right now, food sources are of great interest and form much of their dialog.

A BEAR’S DIET

Because bears are omnivores, they can feed on both plant and on animal material. As a result, in spring, you’re apt to see them searching the avalanche shoots for goats and other hoofed critters that might have perished during a slide. As the season progresses, bears turn to glacier lilies, which Schuster says taste like green beans. Later, they feed on cow parsnip, then about mid-summer, they move to the talus slopes and start looking for cut-worm moths.

Now, they’ve glommed onto huckleberries and to the service berries that so thoroughly cover the sides of Mount Altyn. Schuster says that in Alaska, studies have shown bears may consume hundreds of thousands of the berries-in the course of a single day.

“They know winter is coming,” says Schuster. “And they know they need to build up heavy deposits of fat.

“And that’s the reason it’s such a great time for bear watchers to be here.”

LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME:

Last year we were watching elk bugling–in Glacier National Park.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Glacier National Park, Natural History/Conservation, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.