Visitor Impact on Brown Bears, Admiralty Island, Alaska

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Human disturbance of brown bears (Ursus arctos) was studied in the Pack Creek area of Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska during the summers of 1983 and 1984. The Pack Creek watershed has been closed to bear hunting since 1934, but use of the area by bear watchers and photographers is increasing. Instantaneous scan sampling and focal animal sampling techniques were used to observe bears and visitors at a control area with negligible human activity and at the popular Pack Creek area. Analysis of diel use of the 2 areas showed a crepuscular pattern for both the control and Pack Creek bears. Bears that are conditioned to human food or highly habituated to visitors tended to use the Pack Creek area during the midday periods of high visitor use more than other bears. Over 80% of the observations of Pack Creek bears were of female bears, suggesting that visitor use may differentially affect sexes. Bears that associated people with food showed levels of boldness that could lead to undesirable incidents.