Bear Study Center Vs MN DNR and MN Gov. (if you do nothing else, check out the videos)

[annm4peace]

amazing. the MN DNR wants to get rid of a Bear Study program (no tax dollars used) in MN that has done incredible work.
the BBC has done a documentary on it. There was a the 1st live webcam in a bear den.. the list goes on.

** the Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton is backing the DNR... it is such a shame and disappointment

The Bear center now has to file a temporary restraining order against the DNR..

http://www.bearstudy.org/website/updates/daily-updates/2062-temporary-restraining-order-update-july-23-2013.html

We had hoped the meeting with the governor and commissioner would be fruitful. However, at their press conference afterwards, they made it clear there would be no reprieve on removing the radio-collars by July 31st.

As a result, by the time we went through a hearing of the issues, we likely wouldn’t see the study bears again to re-collar them if we won the hearing. Bears haven’t been coming to feeding stations with all the good food in the woods. When that food wanes during hunting season, they might go to hunters’ baits the same as other bears do. Without radio-collars, June, Lily, Faith, Juliet, and the others could be shot unknowingly by hunters who would spare radio-collared bears. We couldn’t stand by and let that travesty play out. We need an injunction and a thorough, fair investigation.

We know what investigators would find. We know the allegations. We know the complete stories behind them. We know the public safety risk here is no greater than with household chores or driving down the street. No radio-collared bear has ever attacked anyone in our 4 decades of study and the half-century of people feeding bears in this community.

Yesterday, reporters told us some of the allegations the DNR was giving to newspapers. For us, it will be a new form of public education as we and attorneys reveal the truth behind the harmless incidents from nearly a decade ago that are being hyped to scare the public into believing there is a public safety crisis. The bigger the hype, the more interest there will be in the truth.

At 74, we have no choice. It’s too late to start over. We are at the culmination of Lynn’s research career. We are learning the behaviors of supplementally fed bears in the best food year we have seen in nearly two decades. It’s the first food year like this one we’ve ever been able to study in detail. We have radio-collars on a nice core sample of bears with adjacent territories and known kinship. No one has ever had a situation like this. We are comparing behaviors against what we have seen in years with less food. The lack of sightings is amazing to everyone who feeds bears around here.

We are getting more data than ever. We remember the old days of renting an airplane to get one location per bear per week—all we could afford. Then, in a study area with more roads, we drove up to a hundred miles a day to get one location per bear per day. Now, precise GPS locations are sent to Google Earth on our computers about every 10 minutes for more data in one year than we got the whole time before GPS.


Lynn and Sue leave Capital Building
It’s the wrong time to quit—especially at the whim of officials who have little idea what we are learning, who have scarcely read what we have sent them, who have never spent time with us in the field, and who don’t really seem that interested.

Ely Mayor Ross Peterson was great with his testimony of support for our research

[annm4peace]

1. TV and Radio keep stating what the DNR says

They keep repeating that Dr Rogers isn't doing research or getting peer reviewed papers published.

But check this out:


Today was a great day. Top scientists flew in from New Mexico to meet with us and Dr. Roger Powell—a home range analysis expert. All will be co-authors on papers about the many topics that can be written using our unique combination of GPS data and direct observation. Long-time bear researcher Roger Powell has written more than anyone we know on home range. We are asking him to be the senior author on these papers while we work to make the Hope Learning Center and the Northwoods Ecology Exhibit the best they can be.

With all the good that is going on, we hate to be distracted by legal proceedings, but we have no choice.

We thank you all for your support and for all you do. We plan to win this and continue. There is much to do.

—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

[annm4peace]

2. updated after talking to Gov.

We are grateful for the opportunity to meet with Governor Dayton and Commissioner Landwehr today. The discussion was lively and Governor Dayton graciously gave us over an hour of his time.

We showed them 6 peer-reviewed papers published during the permit. We talked about public safety and how people had been feeding bears in the community for over 50 years, how DNR data show complaints were 80 percent lower than state average, and than no radio collared bear had attacked anyone.



Prior to today's meeting, the DNR had agreed to a full administrative review of their decision. We were hoping Governor Dayton would issue a stay of the DNR’s order to remove radio-collars until an administrative law judge could determine the fairness of the DNR’s decision to end the permit. It didn’t happen. The order to remove the radio-collars in 9 days stands.

It’s impossible to put together a full case and have a decision made within 9 days. Once the collars are off, it’s highly unlikely we would ever find the bears during this year of such good food that few bears are being seen at feeding stations. The few visits being made to feeding stations are in the middle of the night and seldom involve radio-collared bears. When natural food wanes during the 6 weeks of hunting season, the study bears, just like other bears, would visit bait stations.


Removing the radio-collars by the end of the month would effectively end our study whether an administrative law judge eventually rules in our favor or not. We are back home, but tired from the trip. Now is not the time for decision-making. Perhaps things will seem clearer in the morning.

We appreciated the strong show of support from Lily Fans at the Capital today and the many calls and letters sent in support of our research. Thank you all for all you do!

—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

[matthews]

3. Your story is sad and depressing. Tonight it seems like all the good efforts people are putting out,

all the hard work, all with the intention of making this country a kinder, better country are going to hell in a hand basket. It's like everything is out of control. And we can't trust anybody. This is becoming a mean-spirited place. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it in all my X decades. People no longer want to take care of the land. They don't want to take care of each other. And we've become so damn destructive. They don't care if they encroach on the places that our wild life need and damn well deserve to have to live in. This Earth is not here for human being alone. We owe it to our wildlife to protect it. And to protect the land.

We're killing everything, plant, animal, and each other. We're almost to the tipping point where there will be nor turning back, no being able to reverse our destruction. No way to bring back all the plants and animals we're driving to extinction.

There's always an excuse. Not a good one, they don't even make the attempt at good excuses anymore. (They being TPTB at every level - City, state, and federal.) And we, the plebs, have very few willing to speak up for us. This is not the country of my youth. I think it's even uglier than back the days of Viet Nam and Watergate. Lying and liars are accepted, Even expected it seems. And there are no repercussions anymore.

*sigh*- going to bed. Had enough of today.

[Mojorabbit]

4. I have been following these bears on facebook. This is a travesty. nt

[annm4peace]

5. My aunt who writes grants and edits publications said

she said that looking at the website he has at least peer reviewed publications so It appears the DNR is lying.