La. black bear to get critical habitat

Areas in the state where the threatened Louisiana black bear lives, which include St. Mary Parish, may soon gain a long sought-after critical habitat designation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but the agency first has to finish receiving public comments, said Debbie Fuller with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Lafayette.

The agency wants 1.3 million acres in regions of south, central and north Louisiana to be a special protected area for the bear, whose population in the state is between 400 and 700.

Identifying the areas as critical habitat is considered essential for the animal’s conservation, though no preserves or refuges would be created.

The action by the Fish and Wildlife Service would not affect private landowners unless they need a special permit, Fuller said.

Last month, the agency released a report on the designation and its possible economic effect. The agency is taking public comments on the study through Friday.

Fuller said the report showed that the oil and gas industry would be most impacted, requiring the relocation and modification of some wells.

“We contracted the report out to an economics firm,” she said. “They talked to affected industries-timber, oil and gas-and (government agencies), and talked about what the designation is.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service first proposed the critical habitat designation for the Louisiana black bear in 1993, a year after the animal was declared threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act and was named the official state mammal.

Prior to 1992, the black bear was protected only by Louisiana law. The animal’s threatened status was mainly the result of habitat loss caused by logging and development. It had formerly been abundant in Louisiana, east Texas and south Mississippi.

The Endangered Species Act requires that the agency determine whether the designation is needed for threatened and endangered animals, and what its economic impact would be.

Unfortunately, the mid-1990s was the wrong period to expect help from Congress for the Louisiana black bear, which became the model for the teddy bear around the turn of the 20th century after Theodore Roosevelt famously spared the life of one that had been tied to a tree.

“Around the time, Congress was feuding with the president,” Fuller said. “Congress passed a moratorium on critical habitat listings. The moratorium lasted a year. They had a backlog of listing actions.”

Then, the agency was forced to deal with litigation, being sued for failure to designate the areas as critical habitat for the bears.

“Critical habitat for black bears never surfaced,” Fuller said.

Though the black bear’s habitat in Louisiana was 90 percent privately owned, the Fish and Wildlife Service was able to protect around 600,000 acres of the land in Louisiana with the assistance of other groups. Fuller said the acreage includes wildlife refuges and Wildlife Management Areas.

“We had many partners restoring habitat for black bears through voluntary landowner action,” she said.

Fish and Wildlife worked with the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, the agency that helps private landowners conserve natural resources, other government agencies, and with the Louisiana Forestry Association’s Black Bear Conservation Committee.

Government purchased some property, other public and private land was protected from development and some privately-owned land was restored to bear habitat.

Fuller said the number of black bears is up slightly since then.

“It took a long time, but the habitat was improving,” she said. “Bottomland hardwood forest had been converted to agriculture. We got that restored back to habitat.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the second critical habitat designation in May 2008.

The bear has core-breeding populations in the Atchafalaya River basin and in the Tensas River basin in north Louisiana, as well as one in Pointe Coupee Parish. Fuller said the animal is probably more numerous in the north.

The Louisiana black bear is distinguished from its American black bear relatives in the northern U.S. by its longer, narrower head.

To see the critical habitat economic impact report, enter https://www.fws.gov/lafayette, click on Lafayette Ecological Services, click on Proposed Designation of Critical Habitat for the Louisiana Black Bear, and click on La Black Bear Proposed Critical Habitat Draft Economic Analysis.

To submit a comment, enter www.regulations.gov, click on Regulations.gov, enter Louisiana black bear, and click on Send a Comment or Submission.

Fuller can be reached at (337) 291-3124.