3rd Alaska Bear Festival
March 30th in Anchorage and March
31st in Soldotna
Please note that there will be an Alaska
Bear Forum the evening of March 30th at Wendy Williamson
Auditorium on the UAA campus.
This event will feature the festivals two
keynote speakers, Christopher Servheen, Ph.D., Grizzly Bear
Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and Richard Nelson, Ph.D., noted Alaskan writer and cultural
anthropologist.
Also note that due to scheduling conflicts,
we had to move the venue of the Alaska Bear Festival on
March 31st from the Soldotna High School Auditorium to the
Soldotna Sports Center which is 2.1 miles from the Sterling
Highway on Kalifonsky Beach Road. This will be an all day
event with evening entertainment. Many cosponsors will have
bear-related exhibits.
This years list of speakers promises that
the Alaska Bear Festival will again provide interesting
and stimulating discussion on the status of bears in the
Cook Inlet region. While presentation of the latest in bear
science is one of the objectives of the festival, presentations
will be geared to the level of the general public. The festival
will include many of Alaska‚s bear experts, but this is
not a science conference.
Alaskans love to talk about bears. Attending
the festival is guaranteed to increase your repertoire of
bear knowledge and what it takes for bears and people to
coexist.
Admission is free.
For further information, contact George
Matz, festival organizer: Phone 345-3139 E-mail geomatz@gci.net
Alaska Bear
Forum in Anchorage
Friday, March 30, 2001 7:30 PM
Wendy Williamson Auditorium UAA Campus
Introduction John Schoen, Ph.D., Senior
Scientist, Audubon Alaska
Keynote Speakers
The Status and Conservation of the Bears
of the World: Alaska and the Kenai in Perspective - Christopher
Servheen, Ph.D., is the Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator
for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Missoula, Montana
and adjunct professor at the University of Montana. He co-chaired
the IUCN Bear Specialist Group for more than 10 years which
completed a review of the status of bears globally.
The Value of Bears to Human Cultures -
Richard Nelson, Ph.D., writer/cultural anthropologist from
Sitka. Richard has spent years living in and studying Native
communities in Northern Alaska. He has written many award-winning
books including: Hunters of the Northern Forest, Make Prayers
to the Raven, The Island Within, and Heart and Blood: Living
with Deer in North America.
3rd Aaska Bear
Festival in Soldotna
Saturday, March 31st
Soldotna Sports Center Kalifonsky Beach Road.
9:30 Opening - Jeff Hughes, Regional Supervisor,
Alaska Department of Fish &Game.
9:45 Welcoming Address - Governor Tony
Knowles (invited).
10:15 Bear Planning in Alaska - An overview
of bear planning in the state with emphasis on the stakeholders
process, particularly on the Kenai. Presenter Cindi Loker,
Alaska Department of Fish &Game stakeholder coordinator.
Stakeholders Participants in the Kenai Brown Bear Stakeholders
Group.
1I:00 Coexisting: Bears and People - Panel
discussion on what can be done to reduce conflicts between
bears and people, especially in southcentral Alaska. Moderator
John Schoen, Ph.D., Audubon Alaska Panelists Joe Hardy,
Kenai hunting guide, Bill Shuster, wildlife biologist with
the U.S. Forest Service. Derek Stonorov, guide and author
of Living in Harmony With Bears. John Hechtel, bear safety
expert with Alaska Department of Fish & Game and Yukon Territory
12:15 Lunch (not provided)
1:30 A Look At Bear Viewing - Discussion
on bear viewing in Alaska. How to accommodate the growing
interest in bear viewing with less risk to bears and people.
Panel Moderator Dave Cline, Kodiak Brown Bear Trust Commercial
guides Chris Day, Owner, Emerald Air Service John Rogers,
Owner, Katmai Coastal Tours. Bear Scientists Grant Hilderbrand,
Ph.D., Alaska Department of Fish &Game Tom Smith, Ph.D.,
USGS Biological Resources Division Agency Managers Deb Liggett,
Park Superintendent, National Park Service Colleen Matt,
Alaska Department of Fish & Game refuge manager.
2:45 Remote Bear Viewing Technology - Daniel
Zatz of SeeMore Wildlife Systems Inc. will show how robotic,
solar-powered cameras are used for monitoring wildlife,
including brown bears public education, entertainment and
research.
3:15 Break
3:30 Kenai Brown Bear Research: Past Efforts,
Current Findings, and Future Directions - Sean Farley, Ph.D.,
Research Biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and
Game and chair of the Interagency Brown Bear Study Team.
A review of results ranging from previous radio collaring
efforts with Kenai brown bears to determining their habitat
and nutritional constraints.
4:30 Keynote Presentation: The Status and
Conservation of the Bears of the World: Alaska and the Kenai
in Perspective - Christopher Servheen, Ph.D., is the Grizzly
Bear Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
in Missoula, Montana and adjunct professor at the University
of Montana. He co-chaired the IUCN Bear Specialist Group
for more than 10 years which completed a review of the status
of bears globally.
5:30 Adjourn
5:45 Spaghetti Feed sponsored by the Friends
of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Guitar music and singing
by Joe Ray Skrha, Trout Unlimited, and Bunny Swan Geese.
Evening Entertainment
7:30 Evening Keynote Presentation: The
Value of Bears to Human Cultures - Richard Nelson, Ph.D.,
writer/cultural anthropologist from Sitka. Richard has spent
years living in and studying Native communities in Northern
Alaska. He has written many award-winning books including:
Hunters of the Northern Forest, Make Prayers to the Raven,
The Island Within, and Heart and Blood: Living with Deer
in North America.
9:00 Adjourn
Alaska Bear Festival Cosponsors Agencies
