Black Bear Management Plan presented to Commission

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries presented its Louisiana Black Bear Management Plan, which includes a population monitoring component, was delivered to the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission at its monthly meeting in Baton Rouge.
The Commission heard details on the plan including management objectives, history of the species, education and outreach efforts, human-bear conflict resolution methods, a post-delisting monitoring plan, factors that would have to be considered prior to any harvest proposal and anticipated impacts, including economic and social.
The plan details the importance of four distinct black bear subpopulations including a repatriated subgroup in Concordia and Avoyelles parishes. It also references several studies, including the recently completed US Geological Survey study that confirmed the long-term viability of the black bear in Louisiana.
The research data collected in the USGS study from 2006 to 2014 found that the chance of all the subpopulations going extinct was less than 1 percent. This data will be part of the information used by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to make a decision on removing the bear from the threatened species list.
Louisiana black bear recovery benefited from state and federal protection of the bears, a reintroduction project and habitat recovery aided by the US Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve and Wetlands Reserve Program.
To view the full Louisiana Black Bear Management Plan, go to www.wlf.louisiana.gov/louisiana-black-bear-management-plan. Comments on the plan will be accepted through March 6 and should be sent to mdavidson@wlf.la.gov.