Partnerships and Wildlife Shepherding (PAWS) for Bears in the Bitterroot Valley- A Collaborative Effort

We’re all increasingly familiar with the sign: trash cans tipped over, orchards raided, chicken feed scattered, bird feeders pulled down. Humans play a key role in whether or not bears can move across the landscape and avoid conflict. Many bear mortalities stem directly from attractants provided by humans.   

Bitterroot Audubon is excited to host two pioneers in the world of reducing human-bear conflicts: Jamie Jonkel of MT Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and Carrie Hunt of Wind River Karelian Bear Dog Partners. We will learn about the status of grizzly and black bears in the Bitterroot Valley and how we all play a role in reducing conflicts between humans and bears. How does bear research and management overlap with how people value and interact with birds? Might our Audubon Chapter join a collaborative effort by management agencies, other conservation organizations, and private groups to prevent and reduce human-bear conflicts by adding language relating to bears to the Audubon Code of Ethics?  

We’ll hear about Wind River’s collaborative work in Montana and the Bitterroot and see a presentation with live Karelian Bear Dogs that demonstrates how bears learn to look for human food resources, how feeding birds exacerbates the problem, and what our Audubon Chapter can do to teach both bears and people correct behaviors. We’ll close with information on some resources available to reduce the potential for human-bear conflicts.

Jamie is a Wildlife Management Specialist, with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and brings over 50 years of experience with wildlife management and conflict reduction to his position. He has worked in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, New Mexico, Canada and Russia with various private and public entities including: National Geographic, Hornocker Wildlife Research Institute, Glacier Institute, Interagency Grizzly Bear Study, Glacier National Park Wolf Ecology Project, Idaho Fish and Game, Maine Fish and Wildlife, Border Grizzly Bear Project, and several privately-owned ranches. He has been with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks since 1996. Jamie received his Bachelors in Wildlife Biology and a minor in Journalism from the University of Montana in Missoula. 

Carrie Hunt founded and directed the Wind River Bear Institute (WRBI) and Wind River Karelian Bear Dogs (KBDs) from 1996 through 2019. The Institute’s groundbreaking mission has been to teach bears and people the correct behaviors to reduce conflicts. In 2019 Hunt turned directorship of the Institute over to Nils Pedersen, while continuing to direct Wind River Karelian Bear Dog Partners, based out of Florence, MT, with the goal of focusing most of her time on the KBD Program and getting more KBDs trained and out working where they are needed, with trained private and agency handlers.  Hunt has worked with bears and human-bear conflict on private and public lands for over 40 years, throughout the Rocky Mountain West, from Canada to Montana and Wyoming, to New Mexico, and Japan.  The initial techniques and work were piloted in Montana on problem grizzly and black bears. Hunt identified and developed the use of the red pepper bear spray system to repel bears, conducted the first investigations of the use of rubber bullets for conditioning and hard releases on free-ranging grizzly and black bears with problem behaviors, and developed the process of “Bear Shepherding” using specialized Karelian Bear Dogs as Wildlife K-9s to support the public and wildlife agencies in reducing bear conflicts, reducing property destruction and increasing safety in bear country.  

Please join Bitterroot Audubon on Monday, May 16^th at 7 pm IN PERSON on the lawn of the Visitor’s Center at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge, 4567 Wildfowl Lane, Stevensville. Please bring a camping chair or blanket to sit on. There are areas of sidewalk and pavement suitable for wheelchairs or walkers. The Visitor’s Center will be closed, but there is a porta potty on site. The public is invited.