The Minnesota DNR is requesting that hunters and other recreationists spending time outdoors this fall to report the locations of occupied bear dens they encounter in and around the Chippewa National Forest, north of Grand Rapids. Bear researchers with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are starting a new bear study in the summer of 2016 and hope to fit a number of bears with GPS tracking collars.

The DNR says the purpose of the study is to examine how bears may have responded to changes in the forest since the 1980s. The DNR previously collared bears in this same study area, roughly between Grand Rapids and Bigfork, through the 1980s and early 1990s. Those bears were located weekly from an airplane to understand how they moved and what habitats they used most. The new generation GPS collars will collect their own locations and transmit these locations via satellite to the researchers.

The researchers would also be interested in collaring a bear within an hour’s drive of Bemidji.

Bear research provides a better understanding of factors that cause populations to change, and in this way enables the DNR to better manage and conserve this species.

Anyone finding a den in either area is asked to obtain a GPS location (if possible) and call Dave Garshelis in Grand Rapids at 218-327-4146 or 218-328-5172.

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