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Post by NorthWes on Jun 29, 2008 8:10:45 GMT -9
This is a repost from the BLM Campbell Tract / FNBP Cache Policy thread: I n an unfortunate vindication of why BLM and city park Land Managers wanted us to keep away from the streams because of the 'bear conflict' portion of their concerns, a young woman was mauled during an all-night bike race this morning in Far North Bicentennial Park. The mauling occurred on Rovers Run Trail, just downstream from its intersection with the South Gasline Trail, according to early reports posted on the Anchorage Daily News website. Rovers Run Trail roughly parallels Campbell Creek along its SW side from the base of the mountainside downstream to the east end of the airstrip. In light of concerns raised at user group meetings regarding the high number of brown bears now known (by definitive area study) to congregate along the streams in this fabulously wild area of city/state/federal parkland, I must agree with the comment made by Rick Sinnott in the online article. He questioned the wisdom of bicyclists riding all night through bear territory. "A midnight race along a salmon stream is probably a pretty bad idea when the salmon are there," he said. I'm disappointed other user groups of the Far North Bicentennial Park / Campbell Tract areas didn't heed the request of land managers to stay away from the streamsides during their activities. Land managers had raised bear conflict concerns during meetings with all user groups of this park area. This unfortunate incident reinforces the bear safety aspect of our decision to cooperate with the land managers in creating an 'exclusion zone' where caches aren't to be placed within 150 of waterways throughout this area. When there's a known high density of bears within a concentrated area, the best action for all parties concerned is to avoid conflict by avoiding the area of highest bear use during the period of its most intense use - the salmon run. Our decision to support the stream exclusion zone was based on common sense in bear country - avoid interaction if at all possible, especially in areas of known high usage where the line of sight is very very short. Making the application of the exclusion zone year-round kept us from trying to decide when bears were actually present, and 'kept the faith' with the streamside vegetation protection portion of the land managers' concerns as well. My prayers are with this young lady for her recovery... A link to the Anchorage Daily News online article: www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/450061.html
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Post by NorthWes on Jun 29, 2008 8:14:06 GMT -9
I'm in a time crunch at the moment, but I'll try this afternoon to collect several links to the state parks and ADFG website articles containing excellent information about wildlife (not just bear!) encounters and how to interact safely with Alaska's critters.
I'm not into a big discussion on 'what's the best protection against bears' because I'm an avid geocacher & hiker - which means the best protection against bears (staying inside) is out for me! While that's a component of this thread, certainly a better conversation will be how to interact with success for all parties concerned...
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Post by FrostG1anT on Jun 29, 2008 8:43:30 GMT -9
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Post by ladybugkids on Jun 29, 2008 9:24:43 GMT -9
This was the second bear incident in two weeks in that section of the park. A pair of trail runners where charged on Double Bubble without injury. That section of trail is not in the BLM "exclusion zone." Pages 16 and 17 of Denali National Park's Alpenglow newspaper feature a good summary of how to coexist with bears. Click here for the document (~2MB). Here are additional links with bear information: Alaska State ParksBLMUSParksGrizzly Bear Outreach Project (includes videos) USGSWhile this morning's event was unfortunate, I encourage people to keep things in perspective. There have been more attacks of dogs on people and people on people this year (and any year, for that matter) than bears on people. It's just a lot more sensational when a bear beats up somebody. When I go into the backcountry, I make noise (bells, etc.) and maintain situational awareness (my dogs help with that). I choose not to carry a firearm or pepper spray due to not wanting to deal with the weight and uncertainty about being able to deploy them quickly and safely. My personal decisions about what to carry and not carry may not align with other folks and that's okay by me. I've gone caching with others packing a firearm and/or carrying pepper spray and been fine with that. In twenty years of backcountry exploration, I've never had a negative bear experience, but I can't say that about moose or people! Be aware, be safe, and keep having fun out there!
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Post by NorthWes on Aug 8, 2008 21:18:33 GMT -9
It's happened again... another brown bear incident. A sow with two cubs attacked a woman on Rovers Run trail this evening (Friday 8-8) in Far North Bicentennial Park... You think people would stay away from that area, what with all the negative publicity this particular bear is generating. www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/488208.html(edit: by the way - My dogs & I were attacked by a loose dog in my neighborhood last week - I'm ok & my dogs are even better - but that resulted in the attacking dog being put down for good after I put it 'down'. LBK is right - there's hazards all over the place around here. Take precautions - be bear aware - as I was 'dog aware' when I was attacked - just as you'd "drive defensively" on your way to the grocery store, so be ready to meet Alaska's big wildlife too.)
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Post by themaninstripes on Aug 18, 2008 9:11:20 GMT -9
Geocachers could become heroes of the area if they would arrange a geo-hunt and someone gunned down the bear!!!
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Post by oleruns on Aug 20, 2008 13:01:06 GMT -9
ADN: The Beach Lake Trail system near Chugiak is closed this afternoon because of a brown bear feeding on a moose carcass in the area, according to Anchorage police.
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Post by oleruns on Sept 25, 2008 5:53:58 GMT -9
Botanical Garden closes after bear kills moose near fence
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Post by ladybugkids on Sept 25, 2008 6:05:48 GMT -9
Botanical Garden closes after bear kills moose near fence Click here for the news story. Note that Ole has temporarily disabled his caches that are around the perimeter of the garden's fence until the bear moves on.
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Post by oleruns on Sept 25, 2008 9:59:03 GMT -9
I will vent a little and feel free to let me have it I will not hold it against you but... I am really thinking of removing my caches from that park or to make them winter only. The lack of visits to the caches because of the bears this summer makes it no fun as a hider. I wish someone had the Grumbah to thin the population of bears a little. "Grumbah" my attempt to make up new 7 letter Scrabble words
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Post by ladybugkids on Sept 25, 2008 12:02:09 GMT -9
I will vent a little and feel free to let me have it I will not hold it against you but... I am really thinking of removing my caches from that park or to make them winter only. The lack of visits to the caches because of the bears this summer makes it no fun as a hider. I wish someone had the Grumbah to thin the population of bears a little. "Grumbah" my attempt to make up new 7 letter Scrabble words I don't think it's necessarily because of the bears...I think you just placed your caches too far from parking. In addition to several memorable trail caches, I have watches on many of the puzzle and multi caches around Anchorage and they have had very few hits this summer. I have several caches on the hillside that are within 200' of parking, yet the find rate for the summer is in the single digits. My theory, at the risk of derailing this thread, is that there are so many easy park and grabs that many (not all) people aren't bothering to go after caches requiring a little extra driving or walking or puzzle solving or multi-stage work because they can go on a numbers run using more easily accessible caches. NorthWes placed a great pair of caches at the Spencer Glacier Whistle Stop (a location of outstanding beauty featuring a train ride) which got only three hits before the trains stopped running. You expressed being discouraged by the lack of finds on your NSBP caches. I feel discouraged, too, because I consider bringing people to a new location and providing a quality experience when I place a cache, yet that's apparently not what the majority of cachers want. Ironically, my most popular cache (>300 visits and going strong) is a park and grab magnetic altoids tin placed in Glitter Gulch at Denali Park. A cache placed only 0.5 mile from that one and less than a quarter mile up the hillside above the Denali Bluff Hotel has received only 24 visits in two years. A cache placed 0.9 miles from the first one requiring a mere 200 yard walk across the Nenana River gravel bar has had on 84 visits. My conclusion...put a cache off pavement and more than a minute or two from the car, and more than 3/4 of the cachers won't look for it. Back on topic...I think the bears are getting thinned. Fish and Game have officially caught or killed several and grapevine buzz I'm hearing is that there are several private citizens who have taken things into their own hands. I just hope a human doesn't get caught in the crossfire.
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powmia
Silver Cacher
Caches Found/Hidden xxxx/x
Posts: 208
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Post by powmia on Sept 25, 2008 14:20:04 GMT -9
Sometimes the challenge is more fun than finding the cache. My self and recray went to the flattop area a couple years back in winter. With GPSr, snowshoes, and avalanche probes we hunted for caches. I believe we found 4 and dug down to the rocks for another but missed it. However, we stayed the night in the valley in our 4 season tent while the snow accumulated and covered halfway up the tent, had good food in sub zero temps, and enjoyed ourselves. I would like to think I "still have it" and am looking forward to those winter trips upon my return. My AVATAR on the left is from a trip into Eagle River in winter hunting for caches. recray on the way to our campsite. Our tent site in the alps.
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Post by li1gray on Sept 26, 2008 9:09:02 GMT -9
If I can put in my 2 cents about the caches in bear country, I've always steered clear of FNBP in the summer because I am usually alone caching and the mrs and I have an agreement I won't go alone to "bear country" I know that there are ones on my list that I really want to get in this area and I usually start again after Oct to try and find some more of them in the area before the snow flys and in winter if they are "snow friendly"
Some cache placers don't put the attributes on their caches which is annoying too.
I will admit the caches in Denali are fun and I think the cachers are there to grab a few close ones as they have other plans while visiting the area and caching is secondary to the visit to Denali, I will admit I tried for all 3 but was only able to locate 2 of them. I really enjoy finding the puzzle caches and have many solved and am planning on "gathering" a few more of them in the area soon. The mrs is done with her chemo and is feeling better each day so we'll be out there as a team again soon!
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Post by NorthWes on Mar 22, 2009 6:29:55 GMT -9
It's that time to be 'bear'-aware again...
the bears of FNBP are coming out of their dens for the 2009 feeding season!
Black bear trees man near Campbell Airstrip I wonder if the bear cross-associated Mr Lamb's last name with a previous dinner menu? I wonder if Mr Lamb had visited the 'Bear-Aware' geocache? I wonder what kind of dogs ran off Mr Lamb's bear? I wonder if the BLM ranger wrote 'em a ticket ($300 per dog per incident) for 'dogs off leash' in the BLM Campbell Tract?
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Post by NorthWes on Apr 21, 2009 20:27:56 GMT -9
Hey - just a thought here - now that the city's hiring a bear cop - maybe we geocachers should think about putting one of our folks up for the job.
Let's see... I nominate Oleruns! He's faced one down before!
All joking aside - it's time to adjust ourselves to be 'bear aware' - and look for the the coyotes and the lynx in Anchorage's wild environs as well - they're tough on your canine caching partners. Reports are coming in from around town of spring sightings of all of our favorite predators. And watch for moose - mamas will be calving soon and they're the grouchiest critters of all.
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Post by alaskarambo on Apr 22, 2009 8:56:02 GMT -9
and come calving season comes easy meals for bears s if you are admiring that new sprng set of twins not only do you have to watch out for mama....but the brownie licking his chops possibly not to far away. It would be interesting to see the job description of our new "bear" cop. I assume lots of risk management but what else?
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