Alaska Conservation Projects

	HISTORIC BROWN BEAR RESEARCH PROJECT While most humans avoid big bears, Wildlife Forever President Doug Grann flew to Alaska to assist a brown bear research team in the removal of radio collars. Doug grabbed eight bears, some weighing more than 1,500 pounds, by the neck over the course of a week. The tracking devices were placed on the bears more than five years ago. This was the first time in history that telemetry collars were removed from study animals following completion of the research. The brown bears were part of an ongoing research project at the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge with support from Wildlife Forever. Wildlife biologists tracked the bears to determine their lifestyles. Scientists wanted to know where and when they denned, what they ate, how they interacted with other bears and numerous other questions. The answers are providing guidelines for wildlife managers to protect and conserve the bear population.
	MOOSE STUDY HELPS REDUCE COLLISIONS WITH AUTOS Noticing an increase in moose mortality, biologists at Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge asked Wildlife Forever for help. More than 350 moose spend their winters at the refuge. When a nearby highway was expanded to four lanes, auto traffic increased in speed and volume, resulting in a subsequent increase in moose-auto accidents. Wildlife Forever agreed to help with a crucial research project to study moose movements in an effort to reduce accidents -- a decision that “got the whole project of the ground,” according to wildlife biologist Mark Masteller. Drugs to capture cow moose were purchased, and the captured moose were radio collared so their movements could be monitored. By determining the direction moose enter the refuge and the regions from which they travel, biologists were better able to manage the population and reduce collisions with automobiles.
	GRANT HELPS ALASKA BEAR, SALMON AND ELK Wildlife Forever has secured $150,000 from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services' Private Stewardship Grants Program (PSGP) to benefit brown bears, salmon, and elk which spend part of their seasonal life-cycle on privately owned land on Afognak Island in the western Gulf of Alaska. Working with Afognak Native Corporation, Alaska Department of Fish & Game and the USFWS, Wildlife Forever is assisting with the removal of timber roads to limit motorized access to large interior tracts of Afognak Island. Two-thirds of Afognak Island is privately owned, and in less than 30 years, 1,000 miles of logging roads have laced the island resulting in harassment problems for brown bears, sedimentation in salmon spawning rivers and increased elk poaching. Selective timber road removal with the PSGP funds will return large sections of Afognak to its primeval state where world class hunting and fishing areas will emerge within the second growth timber stands.
	HUMPY CREEK PRESERVED FOR ANGLERS In the 1970s, a large portion of the Kodiak National wildlife refuge was ceded to native Alaskans by court action. Returning the refuge to its former boundaries to protect the salmon, bears and other wildlife that call the area home, was identified as the number one priority by numerous conservation groups. Your support was part of a critical land purchase that included land along Humpy Creek, a world class salmon fishery and brown bear habitat. Working with an array of partners including the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust, Wildlife Forever was able to get your support matched two to one. This keystone property is providing visitors access to the wildlife and fish in the area. The region is now home to an estimated 2,800 brown bears, 200 species of birds, 150,000 waterfowl and countless bald eagles.