Bear-Human conflict in the Tanana valley.

Woops! I've been fairly distracted with life these last few days. Sorry folks!


Brown Bears are at a lower density in the interior than they are in the South Central. That doesn't mean that Anchorage is alone in bear-human conflict. The story from yesterday's Daily Minor News is point-in-case. Paradoxically, the lesser frequency of bear-human conflicts in the Interior can lead to an increase in the severity of them.

Seem like an odd statement? Consider this: bear awareness follows a sort of function of bear-human interaction. Because the frequency is low, awareness is low. Because education and awareness are low, any given incident is more likely to result in serious consequences for the human, or the destruction of the bear.

For me, it's entirely alien, but there are actually people in this area who don't think there are any bears in this part of the Tanana valley. I've met a few. This is a failure of education, though its severity is up for debate.