INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – Spring is in full swing at Lake Tahoe, and black bears have emerged from their winter dens and can be spotted around town. Members of the Tahoe Interagency Bear Team (TIBT) are exploring new tactics to help manage human-bear conflicts they learned at the 7th International Human Bear Conflict Workshop held in Kalispell, Montana, thanks to funding provided by the Tahoe Fund.
At the conference, nine members of the team, representing the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and California State Parks, learned about initiatives that are showing positive results in other communities and presented their own key learnings and best practices to the 320 attendees from 20 countries and 31 states.
“Human-bear conflict is a complicated and layered issue, so learning from experts across the nation or world and being able to share our own learnings is invaluable,” said Becca Carniello, game biologist at the Nevada Department of Wildlife. “As a result, our team came away with new ideas for initiatives that we’re already starting to implement in an effort to reduce human-bear conflicts and help keep Tahoe bears wild.”
Marquee ideas that the TIBT is evaluating include the creation of a “city liaison” position and screening of a documentary focused on how bear-resistant trash cans can positively influence black bear behavior and improve public perception of these bears.
“The work the Tahoe Interagency Bear Team is doing on behalf of our communities is incredibly important. Co-habitating with bears is a challenge that requires innovative and collaborative thinking. We were thrilled to provide funding to give our local team the opportunity to learn from experts around the world to help the bears and our community in Tahoe,” said Amy Berry, Tahoe Fund CEO.
Learn more about how to keep Tahoe bears wild at tahoebears.org.
Conference photos provided by Tahoe Interagency Bear Team
