Bears Are Back, Baby
- Kenny Slocum
- Apr 29
- 8 min read
A few weeks ago Vince Evelsizer, furbearer biologist with the Iowa DNR spoke at Upper Iowa University to give a little update on the past and future of bear activity in Iowa. He wanted a little help with messaging about the presence of bears in Iowa. It made it easy to come up with a topic for this month's blog post!
The room was packed with mainly conservation professionals from the Iowa DNR, county conservation boards, and some folks from sheriff's offices around Northeast Iowa - folks who would likely get the call if someone reported a bear.
Long story short, bear activity in Iowa has indeed increased in the last decade or so. Part of it stems from healthy and growing populations to our north (~15,000 in Minnesota and increasing, ~24,000 and increasing in Wisconsin), though a bear or two may wander up from the south out of the ~800 or so bears in Missouri.
Like most Iowans I find the appearance of bears in the Hawkeye state fascinating. For us it remains somewhat of a novelty. Over the last few decades we've had a handful of bears enter our borders every year, with 2024 setting the record at 8 bears spotted.
Vince went on to explain that currently no one has documented a breeding population in Iowa. While the DNR (and Clayton CCB) fields numerous reports each year of a cousin who's uncle has a barber who's grandpa has cubs on his back 40, no one has yet been able to actually lay eyes on or photograph cubs. But last year, two of the visitors did indeed overwinter here, so "resident" bears may already be here.
In the conservation world, that's good news. It should always inspire joy to know that wild things can still make a home here, and bears existed in Iowa for thousands of years before European settlers showed up and made it a point to kill them all.
The bad news is that when that last bear died in 1876, the understanding of how to live alongside bears here in Iowa died with it. On top of that, the young state legislature had not yet taken up any laws regarding furbearers; they didn't get around to that until the early 20th century when Iowan bears were just a memory.
So technically, bears have never had any "legal" recognition as a species that lives in Iowa. Same goes for mountain lions, who had their last confirmed sighting in 1867 (though they, too, have started to reappear especially on trail cameras). That means a bear - or mountain lion, or moose - has no protection once it wanders into our borders.
Hence the reason Vince wanted to mount a little information campaign. Ultimately, he (and I'd like to think most people) just want to give bears the opportunity to be bears again in their historic range. But a few barriers make it difficult.
Take Bruno, the bear who in 2020 wandered from Minnesota, through Des Moines, to the Quad Cities, and on down until he eventually wound up in Louisiana. Bruno had Facebook groups dedicated to tracking him, where users could report his locale so folks could go and take a picture of him while he ambled through June cornfields.
It's wonderful that he charmed so many, but that can put serious stress on a bear, especially in the summer heat. A bear last year in Dubuque had similar fanfare, but after getting cornered one too many times he ran up a tree, which only made things worse - people kept coming to see the bear, and he spent hours up there before deputies could disperse the crowd and he felt safe enough to come back down.
Bears have a big body, and an inefficient digestive system - in other words, they need a lot of food and they need it pretty much any time they're not hibernating. So when too much human attention interferes with that process, it can do real harm to an animal most of those people probably didn't want to hurt.
That said, some certainly did - one police officer was called because a landowner reported two gentlemen in a side by side, armed, who had heard the bear was on his property and they sought to kill it to "protect their family."
Leaving aside the trespassing issues, and leaving aside the absurdity of worrying about a single bear when, just across the river in Wisconsin, more than 24,000 bears live peacefully with people, these would-be "heroes" only knew where to look for the bear because of internet chatter.
Vince recommended that, rather than publicize the exact location of a bear at any given point, communities try to put word out that a bear is "in the area," and people should do simple things like protecting trash and taking down bird feeders.
Those actions serve to protect the bear more than the humans. They are creatures of habit; if they learn what hummingbird feeders look like and that they have delicious fluids inside, they will start to seek them out. If we can avoid "teaching" them where to get human food, they will cause fewer problems.
Bears become nuisances when they associate human stuff with getting a good meal. We want to avoid that so that the bear does not have to be dealt with by aggressively hazing (rubber bullets), relocating, or euthanizing.
To that end, if you do get a bear visiting your patio or outdoor cat food, try to discourage that behavior. Black bears are generally pretty cowardly. A loud noise like smacking two boards together, banging on pots and pans, or throwing stuff at it - provided you can do all of this safely - will quickly teach the bear to avoid human places.
Over the last 150 years, black bears have killed only 12 people in the entire United States and Canada. I'm not dismissing those deaths, but far more people have been killed by cows or even domestic dogs in that time frame and no one picks up a rifle and wanders into cow pastures to "protect their family."
Most of the time, black bears pose no real threat to humans. The one exception is the vanishingly-rare instance of a black bear actually instigating contact with a human. When I worked out in Grizzly country, we were coached that "if it's brown, lay down, if it's black, fight back" if dealing with an aggressive bear.
I always assumed the maxim stemmed from the fact that I have no chance against a Grizzly so I might as well give up, but I could probably frighten a black bear. Vince explained that actually, this recommendation stems from the fact that black bears as aggressors are almost always predatory; if you're in a fight with a black bear it probably wants to eat you.
Yikes.
But like I said, vanishingly rare, and almost always because the bear has some sort of malady that has caused it to grow desperate in the search for food.
I was still right about having no chance against the Grizzly, though. Their aggression usually just aims to neutralize a perceived threat. If they wanted to eat you, they'll do that whether you fight back or not (unless you're this guy), so best to neutralize yourself in advance and hope for the best.
I do have one last problem with this little mnemonic: black bears aren't always black.
Last year, a bear around the Harpers Ferry area had a brown coloration and the locals became concerned it was the more aggressive "brown bear."
Simply put, outside of an escapee from an zoo or illicit pet owner, we will not see grizzlies in Iowa. It's unclear if we ever did, but if so they likely never ventured much beyond far western Iowa. So, if you see a bear in Iowa, it's a relatively harmless black bear. Give it space, don't give it food, and just let it be a bear. Kinda like a big raccoon.
But do report it! Burt Walters from the Iowa DNR, working mostly in Allamakee, pointed out that in that area bear sightings have become so common that some people don't even mention it until weeks later. The DNR still wants to know when and where they occur, and it helps your community take those simple "bear-proofing" steps if you can get the word out that one is around.
Which brings us back to the lack of legal status for black bears in Iowa - Vince stressed that for the legislature to take up the issue, it cannot come from the DNR. They have tried, and been rebuffed, many times over the last few decades to get some recognition on the books so that people cannot simply shoot every bear that crosses into our state.
But clearly, undeniably, they at least occur in Iowa, even if they do not yet breed here. So if the lack of status concerns you - either for human safety or bear safety - reach out to your legislators and let them know. Let the DNR or your local CCB know if or when you see a bear so that they can monitor it and better understand their lives here in Iowa.
Ursus Iowa is a recently-minted 501(c)3 organization dedicated to gaining legal status for black bears in Iowa, and I would encourage you to make contact with them to see how you can help move that effort forward.
Yes, a 300-pound creature that can rip open a locked car door and run 35 mph, with a bite strength of 800 psi, is a little different than a bald eagle or a turkey or a river otter, but we should celebrate their return with the same zeal we celebrate the recovery of those species.
April through June is typically the "peak season" for bear sightings. Young males are on the move, looking to establish new territories, and they don't mind walking around at midday. So keep your eyes peeled and remember, if you like wildlife, let it be wild! Looking Back April was incredibly busy at Osborne.
Between high winds and rainy days, we managed to get several high-quality burns accomplished on county properties, and now we get to sit back and watch the benefits roll in. Stay tuned for some "burn walks" planned for this summer to see how it all shakes out.
We also hosted a few events for the greenery already present. On April 18th, a few intrepid explorers took to Motor Mill for a visit to the Pasque Flowers overlooking the Turkey River. Three cheers to those who braved the rain for a glimpse at one of the earliest bloomers of the growing season!
On Earth Day (April 22nd), another group explored the woods around Osborne in search of birds, blooms, and mushrooms. A much nicer evening offered a little more time to stop and smell the flowers, which have begun waking up in earnest amidst all this rainfall.
Our fearless leader Jenna Van Meeteren also offered up some virtual botany with a "Jamaican Garden Tour" program showing some of the amazing tropical flora she got to meet during her honeymoon trip.
The O.W.L.S. took a trip down to the Mines of Spain in Dubuque, along with a visit to the E.B. Lyons interpretive center. Mines of Spain is an amazing natural area, but the history on the site is equally fascinating and worth a trip sometime this summer (if you didn't go with the O.W.L.S. already).
And of course... Arbor Day! We're grateful once again for our friends at the Fort Atkinson Nursery (big tree donors) and the Clayton County Soil & Water Conservation District (tree seedlings donors) for helping us celebrate with elementary students all over Clayton County. Truly one of the most fun weeks of my calendar year every year.
Looking Forward
It's finally here! The Osborne Campground Grand Opening will take place this Thursday, May 1st, at 6:00 PM. Come on out for a ribbon cutting and some smores and hotdogs around the inaugural campfire. If you can't make it then, we hope you'll get a chance this summer to try out the new digs.
On Saturday, May 3rd, Nature Kids will make its return here at Osborne. Kids aged 3-7 with adult supervision are invited to hear some stories, do a nature-inspired craft, and enjoy a whole host of other activities starting at 10:00. Reservations are required so call us here at Osborne to reserve a spot.