The subject of the speaker at the recent Migration Fest at Lehigh Gap Nature Center, Slatington, was black bears.

Nature Center Board of Directors member Ed Newcomb introduced Mark Ternent of the Pennsylvania Game Commission as leading the way in black bear conservation.

A bear biologist, Ternent, does management and research across the state.

Ternent considers black bears the most fascinating animals in the state. Some get as old as 30 and there have been six weighing more than 800 pounds harvested in one year – all from the Poconos area.

There are seven species of bears but the only one in Pennsylvania is the black bear and they are facing habitat loss.

Their area ranges from Mexico to Alaska and all the way east to west with a total of 750,000 bears.

Pennsylvania has 6 percent of the harvested take with 28 percent of the hunters in the country.

Ternent said Pennsylvania is in the middle of the Eastern Seaboard, a bear area.

Bears are very adaptable. They need forest and cover but are not particular what type of cover it is. They are able to adapt to the sounds and sights of living close to people.

When the colonists came to this continent, they clear-cut most of the forest and bear numbers were down to 3,000 in the state.

A 1910 newspaper article said the last black bear in the Blue Mountains had been killed.

Pennsylvania was the first state where the game commission established seasons and forbid trapping.

Hunting with dogs or bait was forbidden and cubs were protected.

In the 1970s, the season was closed to hunting three times.

By 1979 there was a single day but it was late enough in the season that many bears were already hibernating.

“We knew the forest was recovering but there were still no bears,” said Ternent.

Hunters were restricted to harvesting one bear in a lifetime. There was no special bear hunting license.

A statewide tagging program was set up in 1973 and mandatory checking stations were begun which provided the science by recording sex, size and healthfulness.

A turning point was reached in 1980. Some counties were closed to bear hunting. Special licenses were required beginning in 1981.

At the time, there were two areas where black bears were found: the central eastern part of the state and across much of the northern tier.

Seventy pregnant sows were stocked in the southwestern part of the state to form a new core group. As they would have cubs, they would stay in an area long enough so they did not head to their old home.

Forest habitat was expanding. Pennsylvania became near the top in age of first breeding which is three years and the number of cubs which is three with a survival rate of 80 percent.

One of the reasons for the breeding success is because there is a good food supply beginning with young vegetation, then insects, fruit and, in the fall, beechnuts and acorns. Attacking bird feeders and garbage cans get the bears in trouble but provide calories.

The mating season begins with implantation in October or November but fertilization does not take place until June with the birth in January.

The cubs stay with the mother for 1-1/2 years. They weigh 8 ounces at birth and by March they weigh 5 pounds and 10 pounds when they leave the den. The mother’s milk is 30 percent fat.

The bears do not leave the den or have food or water. However, they do not lose muscle or bone. The young are cared for with food and cleaning.

Ternent said it is a myth that hibernation is always in a cave. Many use built nests. One bear was found in a hollow tree. Another was nesting in the snow and was found only because the breathing made the snow rise and fall.

The age is told by the rings on a tooth. When a bear is tagged, a tooth will be pulled to determine the age.

The tooth also tells the age at which the bear had its first and subsequent litters.

Really old bears are usually female with one reaching the age of 37.

To stabilize numbers the season was opened a day longer and on a Saturday.

Ternent was asked how many the habitat can support. He said the state is not near the biological capacity.

It is illegal to feed bears. If bird feeders are taken down in summer they do not attract bears to a backyard.

The four cornerstones of bear management are statewide tagging, check stations, monitoring reproduction and research, said Ternent.