The approved plan reflected the extension of policies and procedures that had been in place at the park for several years as park managers, in an attempt to revert the black. bear back to its natural food source and to avoid human injury and property damage incidents, had eliminated all dumping within the park, installed bear-proof garbage cans, and initiated a bear research program. It was noted that when Crater Lake was compared with other large national parks the number of bear incidents was not as numerous nor the incidents as serious. Reported personal injuries inflicted by black bears over the previous ten years had averaged one in every two years. Black bears that had been destroyed were few in number and were primarily those who inflicted injuries to humans. It was estimated that the existing bear population in the park was about the same as it had been in 1902, ranging between 75 and 100 animals.
The management objectives of the 1974 bear management plan were three-fold. They read:
1. Preserving and maintaining black. bear populations under natural conditions in their natural habitat
2. Providing for visitor and employee safety and elimination of property damage due to bear incidents
3. Providing opportunities for visitor appreciation and enjoyment by having visitors observe free roaming bears in their natural environment
To provide for effective implementation of the plan a management program was outlined. The program included “action steps” for public relations and visitor appreciation; reporting and claw enforcement procedures, bear-proofing garbage cans, and research on bear ecology, habitat, and behavior. Problem bears would be removed if found to be exhibiting the following behavioral characteristics:
1. Bears threatening people without provocation
2. Bears exhibiting their loss of fear of people by repeatedly entering heavy visitor use areas including campgrounds and residential areas
3. Bears regularly causing major property damage such as breaking windows in cars and trailers or causing considerable property damage when breaking into closed structures
Problem bears would be dispatched only as a last resort. [52]
An updated and revised “Bear Management Plan” for the park was approved by Superintendent Rouse in January 1980. The plan, which provided more detail regarding policy and procedure implementation than the 1974 plan, contained most of the salient points of the earlier document. The 1980 plan was prefaced by a summary account of visitor-bear problems in the park:
Human-bear conflict resulting in property damage has increased over the past few years. No injuries have been recorded, however, several close calls were reported. The conflicts between bears and humans are due to the present and past availability of human supplied food sources for the bears. Food-reward association with humans has resulted in the loss of fear of man and a more sophisticated population of bears is again beginning to develop at Crater Lake. The availability of unnatural food sources is altering the bears natural, wild behavior and foraging habits.
The plan established three management objectives in accordance with NPS policies:
(1) To restore and maintain the natural integrity, distribution, abundance, and behavior of the endemic black bear populations
(2) To provide for the safety of Park visitors by planning the development and use of the Park so as to prevent conflicts and unpleasant or dangerous incidents with bears
(3) To provide opportunities for visitors to understand, observe, and appreciate the black bear in its natural habitat with a minimum of interference by humans
Accordingly the plan implemented a program consisting of five basic elements to prevent the causes of man-bear conflicts: (1) public and employee information and education; (2) removal of artificial food sources; (3) enforcement of regulations regarding feeding of wild animals and proper food storage; (4) control of problem bears; and (5) continuation of a research program on the black bear population dynamics and ecology and monitoring of bear-human relationships. [53]
