Wild Trails & Tall Tales

- by Roland Cheek

BEAR-OLOGY

I am an amateur bear-ologists.

There are lots of -ologists: Ornithologists study birds,entomologists are into creepy-crawlies, paleontologists mull over plant and animal fossils, and archaeologists reconstruct ancient human life. Most serious study, of course, is accomplished by professionals who devote years to training for their -ologies. But each -ology is inevitably augmented by recreationally motivated amateurs.

Some -ologies appear dependent upon amateur participation classic example is the assistance of thousands of amateur birdwatchers to the study of migratory patterns for many bird species. But other -ologies resent amateurs' recreational intrusion, particularly among paleontologists and archaeologists who fear that amateurs foraging through key discovery sites might destroy important clues to the past. In many cases, professional anguish over amateur participation has led to laws and regulations prohibiting amateur involvement which, in turn, presents the professionals with a conundrum: without permitting an interested public to participate, how can they persuade them to finance their work?

Biology, for the most part, appears aloof from that controversy. Instead, most public wildlife agencies actively promote a variety of "watchable wildlife" programs. But in all honesty, those wildlife agencies' encouragement came after I began deliberate amateur study of bear-ology. This is not a trifling trend.

But not to worry. The Roland concept of bear-ology does not include my use of professional techniques. I do not sneak stealthily through the forest with a syringe lashed to the end of a broomstick and loaded with a sleeping potion on the off chance I can stick a grizzly in the hinder. Instead, I ease up to where I can view a remote peat moss bog at daylight, or a hillside loaded with huckleberries. I glass distant burns where ursids sometimes forage under rotted logs and stones and where I can readily locate them with the aid of a spotting scope. In short, I enjoy watching the creatures--always at a distance.

Yet, the question of concern is: will amateur bear-ology attract hordes of spectators?

Hmmm. There are, of course, no highway signs directing casual viewers to bear-watching sites. And recent professional research discourages feeding bears to attract them to viewing stations. So the only real way to practice amateur bear-ology is to go off into the big lonesome and wander around in the hopes of observing an animal before shaking hands with him. So we're really talking about deliberately seeking out the world's largest carnivore--an animal who can (and sometimes does) eat us. In other words, amateur bear-ology is not quite as risk-free as banding hummingbirds.

What would motivate otherwise normal human beings to search for bears they do not intend to kill or drive away? John Murray expressed the reason well in his book, "The Great Bear".

"Those who have packed far up into grizzly country ... know that the presence of even one grizzly on the land elevates the mountains, deepens the canyons, chills the winds, brightens the stars, darkens the forests, and quickens the pulse of all who enter it."

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