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The HiLakerVolume 1 Issue 4 Mar 1996

Upcoming Events:Mar. 20, 96 Bears & WolvesAph 13, 96 TrailsFest '96Apr. 17, 96 4prf/ Meeting

US Fish & WildlifeMountaineers HeadQuartersOfficer Elections

From ThePresident's PackO n c e a g a i n , t h e

Curtis/White slideshowwas a major highlight at

our February Family Nite meeting.Thanks Walt, Brian and Steve foran outstanding set of slides on yourwilderness trip into the Crags areaof the Idaho Selway-BitterrootWilderness.

The Winter Social dinner washeld Saturday, March 2nd, atthe Lake Forest Park beach club.Thanks to TB'er Jim Mighell forobtaining the facility as a member.Thank you's are also due for DanGraham (TB chair), SandyMcKean (last second HL chair),Mike Ward (MC), Bill Davis(steelhead program), Roy andMarge Wagner (for donating theCurtis Raft raffle prize), BobMatthews (for donating the CDdisk changer raffle prize), allmembers who obtained door prizes,Bill Henkle/Jeanne Coward/SteveWhite for staffing the entry,Patrick White for ice, and GlenLee for fresh smoked steelhead thatfed the entire gathering. Thanksalso to all who helped with setupand cleanup, especially to GeorgeBucher and Bob Pfeifer who

Copyright 1996 The HiLakers

TrailBlazer Ken McLeod 's Winter Run From...showed up at 10 AM, noon and4PM for setup, wondering wherethe rest of us were.

At the last club meeting, adraft of concerns andsuggestions for a High Lake

Information Policy was circulatedto members. This is a Heads-Upalert to get all facets that should beincluded in a policy on paper inpreparation for discussion of thetopic with the WDFW at the nextInland Fish Policy Advisory Group

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Many Trails Peak from the camp at First Hidden...meeting. If you have anyadditional suggestions, bring themin to the next meeting. TheIFPAG meeting will be on March22, two days after the clubmeeting.

March meeting program willbe a presentation onGrizzly Bears and Wolves by JohnGilstrom and Jeff Haas from theUS Fish & Wildlife Service. Thisprogram has been on-again, off-again since we originallyscheduled them last October,moved to November to avoid thepossible government shutdown,which occurred in November andDecember, postponed January asonly John could have made thatclub date, bumped by Family Nitein February to March. Keep yourfingers crossed that we finally getthem at Mercer View CommunityCenter. The delay may haveworked to our advantage in addingan update on wolves to thepresentation. Jeff has justcompleted a report on wolf statusand has the latest scoop.

Speaking of bears, I attended theFebruary meeting of theWilderness Education Council(WEdC), along with PhilLeatherman of the Trail Blazers.Anne Braaten, NCNP wildlifebiologist, presented a program on"Sharing the Backcountry withBears." Fascinating stuff -synopsis in another column in thisnewsletter.

Mark Saturday, April 13thon your calendars forTrailsFest'96. This will be an allday faire at the Mountaineersbuilding (300 Third Ave West).There will be booths bygovernment agencies (US ForestService, etc.), outdoor retailers andoutdoor organizations providinginformation related to trails issues.There will also be workshops andslide shows on trail and outdoorrecreation topics. Yours truly willbe presenting a slide show on thehigh lake trout fishery. I plan to bethere the entire day, mostly helpingout at the Washington TrailsAssoc, booth. Should be a veryinteresting and informative event.

The HiLaker vl.4Remember elections in April - timeto start thinking of new officers.

— Gerry

Sharing theBackcountrywith BearsReview of a talk by Anne Braaten,

Wildlife Biologist, N. CascadesNat'lPark

A n n e g a v e a s l i d eJy. presentation and talk onbears, both blacks and grizzlies, atthe Wilderness Education Councilmeeting on February 28th. Beloware some interesting insights that Ipicked up from her talk, thediscussion that followed, and fromthe Park Service booklet, "Bearsand You in the North Cascades",some of which clarified points thatI partially knew.

Bears are omnivores, like us.Meat is less than 15% oftheir diet, the majority consistingof vegetation, roots and forbes.The long claws and humpedshoulder muscle mass on grizzliesgives them superior diggingcapability compared to blacks.Blacks can climb trees extremelywell and this is their escapemethod when confrontinggrizzlies. Bears increase theirweight by about 25-33% over thesummer to store up enough fat forwinter hibernation.

Bear behavior is complex andhighly individualistic. Habituationand conditioning responsesinfluence their behavior.Habi tuat ion is behaviormodification to ignore repeatedstimuli that are not threatening(frequent seaplane traffic infeeding areas, for example).

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Page - 3 -Conditioning is a response changedue to infrequent incidents(discovery of food in acampground). The problem bearsare those that become habituated tohumans and then become foodconditioned.

Pepper sprays were discussedand there is now a littleanecdotal field data. Large pepperspray cans are somewhat useful ongrizzlies, but have considerablyless effect on food-conditionedblacks. Small pepper sprays thatshoot a stream are useless. Oneranger related a series of incidentswith a grizzly that was habituatedto people. The ranger intercededwith the bear as it was approachingto confront three sea-kayakers whohad beached their boats in its turf.Gathering the kayakers closebehind him, the ranger gave a puffof pepper spray overhead into thedownwind direction toward thebear. Upon catching scent of thespray at about 30 yards away, thebear immediately turned andretreated. A few days afterward,the ranger confronted the samebear at a distance of about 100yards. One puff led to the bearmoving away, again. Upon a thirdconfrontation, as the rangerreached for the spray can, the bearturned and retreated.

In contrast, Jim Johnston(WDFW biologist) had anincident with a food-conditionedblack bear at Peterhope Lk, BC inJune 1994. Jim and I had campedat a wooded spot on the south lakeshoreline, away from the heavilyused northeastern shore. Severalother groups camped close byduring the weekend. After theother groups and I left, Jim wasvisited by a black bear. He got outhis pepper spray to discouragemister bruin. The bear simplyretreated cross-wind, out of spray

The HiLaker vl.4

HiLaker Randy Clark checks "Gus 's" prints on Alpine Lakes High Route.

range. Not sure if he had chasedoff the bear, Jim retreated to histruck to read. Shortly afterward hewas startled by a nose-to-nosevisage of mister bear at his driver'sside window. Chasing the bear off,Jim broke camp and retreated backto the populated northeastshoreline camp area.

The advantage of the largepepper spray cans is thatthey put out a dispersed cloud ofvapor with a range of about 20 feet.Combined with their largercapacity (more shots), this providesgreater assurance that the bear will

have to go through pepper gas toreach you. An incident wherepepper spray was used to stop abear that was mauling a personwas also mentioned. Bears haveextremely excellent sense of smell(much better than bloodhounds) sopepper spray can be effective ifused correctly.

If you confront a bear, don'tturn your back and run. Bearscan run as fast as racehorses.Running often triggers a chase-and-capture response. Bestresponse is to talk loudly in lowtones and to start breaking smalldry branches by stepping on them.

Copyright 1996 The HiLakers All rights reserved

Page - 4 - The HiLaker vl.4This is a sign that bears useamongst each other to show theirdiscomfort at being too close toeach other.

If a bear approaches you, do notscream or run or make suddenmotions. Bears are curious andmay simply want to "check youout." Avoid direct eye contact(threatening). Generally, if youjust stand your ground, the bearwill usually soon leave. Talking inlow soothing tones may also helpkeep you calm. Avoid panic.Animals can sense this. Thisconfrontational advice also isappropriate for aggressive dogs.

Wild bears rarely attackunless threatened orprovoked. Avoid surprising bearsby talking. Some people use bearbells, but talking carries better, andbells may arouse a bear's curiosity.If a black bear attacks you, fightback with rocks, sticks, or anythingand aim for eyes and nose. I use a95mm ice axe as a walking staff,not only to take strain off myknees, but as a major weapon forclose range encounters. Useful forcougar threats also. With cougars,do not look small, but as large andfierce as possible.

Rears may bluff charge, countcoup, cr attack just to makesure you are not a threat (especiallygrizzly sows with cubs). Peoplehave weathered grizzly attacks bydropping into a cannonballposition with neck and facecovered. Usually the bear will seethat you are not a threat and willleave you alone. Do not take theoffensive against a bear with cubs.In contrast to blacks, don't fight offgrizzly attacks - this challenges thebear's superiority and usually turnsinto a fight to death (either you orthe bear). Grizzlies will not backdown from a challenge like a black

bear will. However, given therarity of grizzlies in the northwest,unless you know for sure the bearis a grizzly, assume that it is ablack bear attacking you and fight1.

Hike with others in bearcountry. I have not heard ofgrizzlies attacking a party of fouror more guys. Last year, two guysand two gals from the northwestwere attacked in Alaska.

No mention was made ofGrizzly Bear Recovery inthe N. Cascades.

— Gerry

From theEditors InboxNo stories were collected thismonth? Has February really frozeup all the ice-fishers out there?Most of this issues was again

Note the HiLaker is not responsible forany opinions expressed by contributors. Useyour own common sense in any backcountryundertaking!

written by our overworkedpresident Gerry Erickson.Hopefully March will find sometime to get some pens out for print.

To get material into the nextnewsletter I need a hardcopy byApril 10. The rest is sort 'omechanical, but you've got to get itwritten down ©

Steve White6122 144th Place SEBellevue WA 98006

Copyright 1996 The HiLakers All rights reserved