By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

In a House Natural Recourses Committee hearing entitled "Access Denied: The growing conflict between fishing, hunting and energy development on federal lands,” conservationists and labor leaders testified Tuesday that energy development on public land is failing wildlife and squeezing out hunters and anglers.

From The Casper Star-Tribune:

"Energy development is not being done right on the public lands in the West," said Rollin Sparrowe, a Wyoming resident and board member of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and former supervisor of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service research programs on Rocky Mountains wildlife. . . .

Sparrowe noted that oil and gas leasing has accelerated since the November election. "People want to get as much leased as they can under the current administration before it's too late," he said.

Representatives Stevan Pearce (R-NM) and Don Young (R-AK) argued that the amount of land affected—“less than 5 percent of BLM” parcels—doesn’t justify all the fuss. Young added that, “If we continue down this path of not developing energy, you won't have any freedom in this country.”

Where do you stand on the topic?

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Yesterday, we linked some of the so-called educational material disseminated by New Jersey state officials in support their push to explore non-lethal methods of bear control. Today, we have a very timely story from The New Jersey Herald that may shed some light on how that new strategy is working so far:

A large black bear which tried to break into a home several times looking for food was shot and killed by a wildlife control officer over the weekend.

The shooting came after officers tried for more than a week to capture the bruin in live traps. "The bear eluded the traps and eluded capture,'' said Darlene Yuhas, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. When the efforts at a live capture were unsuccessful, officers set up along a route the bear was believed to take as he searched for food.

The bruin weighed a hefty 532 pounds.

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

By now you know that New Jersey’s new governor and DEP commissioner yanked a hard-won black bear season away from the state’s hunters last year. Now, in their effort to explore non-lethal methods of bear control, the state is disseminating so-called educational material. But some of it smells a little like propaganda.

For example, check out the linked document from the state’s Division of Fish & Wildlife entitled “Questions and Answers About NJ’s Black Bears.” To the question, “Weren't black bear numbers kept low in New Jersey through extensive hunting?” the following answer is given:

No. The population remained small throughout most of the 20th century due to limited amounts of suitable habitat. There were legal hunting seasons for black bear in New Jersey only in the years 1958, and 1962 through 1970. The limited hunting season during those 10 years resulted in only 46 bears being harvested, indicating a relatively small population. This prompted the Division, the Fish and Game Council and the sportsmen of New Jersey to close the season in 1971.

This answer conspicuously omits the fact that during the state’s two recent bear hunts in 2003 and 2005, sportsmen took a whopping 626 bears. What’s more, a chart that follows this excerpt shows that bear complaints went down precipitously immediately following the 2003 season. Yet, in the section that discusses management tools and bear-control options, hunting is not even mentioned.

So what do you think? Are New Jersey wildlife officials giving the public the bear facts—or their own spin on them?

By Dave Hurteau & Chad Love

Like many of us, you may dream of taking a bear and making a rug for hunting camp. But until you get your bruin, why not start with a Gummy Bear rug. I’m sure you wouldn’t catch any flack from your buddies. Read more here.