The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) today presented its Louisiana Black Bear Management Plan. The plan, which includes a population monitoring component, was delivered to the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission at their monthly meeting in Baton Rouge.
 
The Commission heard details on the plan including management objectives, history of the species, education and outreach efforts, human-bear conflict resolution methods, a post-delisting monitoring plan, factors that would have to be considered prior to any harvest proposal and anticipated impacts, including economic and social.
 
The plan details the importance of four distinct black bear subpopulations including a repatriated subgroup in Concordia and Avoyelles parishes. It also references several studies, including the recently completed US Geological Survey (USGS) study that confirmed the long-term viability of the black bear in Louisiana.
 
The research data collected in the USGS study from 2006 to 2014 found that the chance of all the subpopulations going extinct was less than one percent. This data will be part of the information used by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to make a decision on removing the bear from the threatened species list.
 
Louisiana black bear recovery benefited from state and federal protection of the bears, a reintroduction project and habitat recovery aided by the US Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve and Wetlands Reserve Program.
 
To view the full Louisiana Black Bear Management Plan, go to http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/louisiana-black-bear-management-plan .  Comments on the plan will be accepted through March 6, 2015 and should be sent to mdavidson@wlf.la.gov or
 
Maria Davidson
LDWF Wildlife Division
5652 Hwy 182
Opelousas, LA 70570
 
For more information, contact Maria Davidson at 337-948-0255 or mdavidson@wlf.la.gov or Robert Gosnell at 225-763-5448 or rgosnell@wlf.la.gov .