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BLACK BEAR SIGN Whether you want to track them or steer clear of them, you should be able to recognize signs that bears are in the area. Here are some tips on what to look for to track bears. Video and text provided by Sue Mansfield, MS and the Wildlife Research Institute Tracks and Trails Tracks and Trails Feeding Feeding Overturned Stones Overturned Stones Straddle Marking Straddle Marking Tree Bites and Scratches Tree Bites and Scratches Scat Scat Utility Pole Damage Utility Pole Damage Shredded Logs and Stumps Shredded Logs and Stumps Rubs Rubs Hornet Nest Remnants Hornet Nest Remnants Day Beds Day Beds Dens Dens

BLACK BEAR DIET Black bea rs are omnivores. Insects and animal matter are less than 10% of the annual black bear diet around Ely and across most of North America. Vegetation is the mainstay of a black bear’s diet. They follow different nutrient concentrations, eating different plants and plant parts in different seasons. For example, they eat Aspen Catkins in April and Aspen leaves in May. Almost all natural bear foods are sustained by moisture. Dry weather periods may cause a scarcity in natural food sources. Drought.gov provides data on current and forecast moisture conditions. Information provided by the Wildlife Research Institute and members of the BearTeam Select a season All seasons Spring, Summer American Vetch American Vetch Spring Animal Protein Animal Protein Late Spring to Late Summer Ant Pupae/Brood Ant Pupae/Brood Late Winter, Spring Aspen - Big-Tooth, Quaking or Trembling Aspen - Big-Tooth, Quaking or Trembling Never Eaten Baneberry - Red and White Baneberry - Red and White Late Winter Beaked Hazel, American Hazel - Flower Parts Beaked Hazel, American Hazel - Flower Parts Summer, Autumn Beaked Hazel, American Hazel - Nuts Beaked Hazel, American Hazel - Nuts Late Winter Black Ash Black Ash Never Eaten Bluebead Lily Bluebead Lily Summer Bunchberry Bunchberry Spring Canada Bluejoint Canada Bluejoint Spring, Summer Cattail Cattail Summer, Autumn Chokecherry Chokecherry Summer Common Dandelion, Red-seeded Dandelion Common Dandelion, Red-seeded Dandelion Occasionally Eaten Coralroot Orchid Coralroot Orchid Spring, Summer Creamy peavine, Veiny pea Creamy peavine, Veiny pea Summer Downy Arrowwood Downy Arrowwood Spring Interrupted Fern Interrupted Fern Summer Jewelweed Jewelweed Summer Juneberry Juneberry Load More

Item List WhitePine001 Minnesota's White Pines Read More WhitePine002 To most people who live among them, the white pine is their favorite tree. Read More WhitePine003 These giants live up to 634 years and were once so plentiful a person could travel from the Atlantic shore to Minnesota and seldom be out of sight of them. Read More WhitePine004 For thousands of years, Minnesota's white pine forest was home to caribou , . . . Read More WhitePine005 . . . pine martens, and dozens of colorful birds like pine grosbeaks and red crossbills. Read More WhitePine006 The forest seemed destined to last for centuries. When cutting began, white pines larger than any in Minnesota today were common -- white pines up to six feet in diameter and over 150 feet tall. Read More WhitePine007 The rule for good forestry is to cut trees no faster than the forest grows new ones. This is called sustainable forestry. It's the only way to produce wood and keep our forests and wildlife -- and jobs in the timber industry. Read More WhitePine008 In Minnesota, white pines have always been cut at unsustainable rates, and we've nearly lost our white pine forests and our white pine industry. Read More WhitePine009 The rush to cut white pines started on the Atlantic Coast. Read More WhitePine010 Loggers cut their way west through Michigan and Wisconsin, gradually expanding America's frontier to the vast white pine forests of Minnesota. Read More WhitePine011 The green and red squares together represent Minnesota's 27 million acres of forests of all types before cutting began in 1837. The red square represents the three and a half million acres dominated by old growth white pine forest and mixed white and red pine forest. Read More WhitePine012 People thought Minnesota's white pine forests were inexhaustible -- and the forests did support a booming industry for almost a hundred years -- but in 1932 the white pine industry collapsed. Read More

2060f0bf-850e-4037-b22d-8dbfbf96e72d BLACK BEAR DIET Juneberry Amelanchier sp. Mid-June through July Summer Juneberries are a native and small deciduous shrub or tree in northern Minnesota that grows along the edge of a dry open forest and around rocky outcroppings. It is also known as serviceberries, saskatoons or shadbush. They are an early season fruit crop that produces delicious fruits that are similar to blueberries with the ripe fruit colors ranging from purplish red to deep purple to blackish. An important early fruit crop for black bears.

2560967e-f56d-4905-bfa4-a3574bb585b1 < Back Slide 18 of 83 < > What happened was in the 1800's, good, sincere people were supplying lumber to a growing America and clearing the land for agriculture. No one knew yet that most of the land they were clearing in Minnesota was not good for agriculture. They were working hard to earning livings for their families and build a better America, and it seemed more logical to cut every tree they could rather than leave seed trees for the future.

879cacf3-290b-4888-9879-58b2091c2b06 BLACK BEAR DIET Quaking Aspen Populus tremuloides April Late Winter Quaking Aspen is one of the first trees to leaf out in the spring.

WHITE PINES To black bears, not all trees are created equal. In the forests of northeastern Minnesota, bears definitely prefer to be near majestic white pines. Read Paper Are White Pines Too Valuable To Cut? To cut or not to cut? Here are some of the research findings foresters must weigh in managing Minnesota's old-growth white pines. Read Paper Supercanopy White Pine and Wildlife A survey of the literature showed that scattered supercanopy white pines perform a different wildlife function than do white pine communities. Read Paper Bark Probably the biggest reason black bears make their beds near big white pines is the white pine's bark. Old white pines have deeply-furrowed, strong bark that make them easier for cubs to climb for safe refuge. Cubs often fall from trees with flaky bark, like spruces, jack pines, and red pines, and the often fall from trees with smooth bark like birches and the upper branches of aspens. Shade White pines have another advantage for bears in spring before deciduous trees leaf out. White pines offer shade to escaping cubs that may spend hours in trees until danger passes. Bear fur can reach 185 degrees Fahrenheit in the sun. The need for shade becomes a matter of life and death when panting can no longer keep body temperature below 104 degrees. Strong Branches The long, strong branches of white pines provide greater safety to cubs than do other trees in northeastern Minnesota. Strong white pine branches can support entire bear families if necessary. Slideshow courtesy of White Pine Society Visit whitepines.org Watch Slideshow Tree Age Calculator Use this online tool to help you easily calculate the age of a tree using simple measurments Visit Site Tree Measuring Guide Friends of the White Pine Society, Robert Leverett and Will Blozan have shared with us a few diagrams from their book "Stalking The Forest Monarchs - A Guide to Measuring Champion Trees." Read Guide

69435b2f-cb22-4ce5-9988-2bcec5eb4fb4 < Back Slide 74 of 83 < > Even dead or dying white pines are important to wildlife. A healthy forest is a functioning ecosystem that includes dead and dying trees for wildlife homes and food.

c03050fc-ee13-422f-9576-316707e6e3ed Rubs Bears rub against trees and brush to leave each other scent messages.

680bb8e8-6c1c-4781-a691-c4fc1185ee59 BLACK BEAR DIET Mountain Ash Sorbus spp. September after 1st frost Autumn A small tree/bush native to northern Minnesota. It is found growing in part shade, full sun, moist areas, cool forest, swamps stream banks, forest edges, rocky shores and bluffs. Fruit is a cluster of bright red berries that matures in late summer and persist through winter. Berries are often eaten by black bears after the first frost which makes them sweeter.

6c9dc748-e85c-40c0-b4cc-1fb1f0b9297b < Back Motherly Grunts June with her cubs Spring 2007.

2f887c6b-2406-438c-bd4e-0541326e90a1 Back