Passing on this info we received from the USFS

Some bear information:
• Persistent Birch Bear: another sighting of the bear on Birch Lake near the Sucker Lake portage—remember this one captured a garbage bag earlier so it knows people equal easy pickings. This time the bear didn’t get anything and didn’t return while the group was on the site.
• Sadly, the Shell/Loon Bear created by people letting it get their food (such as leaving the lid off a bear barrel) just became too habituated. S/he was put down last week. Please help people understand that food must be guarded even during the day.
• Back Bay Bear: a bear has visited at least three sites on Back Bay. I don’t know if it was successful in getting food or not. Remind people that coolers are NOT bear resistant.
• A bear who gets food from campers makes the connection. Campers are like pizza delivery staff on a college campus—follow the scent and they’ll find the party. Burning food waste or dropping fishguts behind the site is like throwing up McDonald’s golden arches over the site. Bears climb and they swim (very well).
Leaving a trace (and more) of soap in the water:
• Our crews have been finding a weird number of people washing their dishes and themselves in the lake. One group thought that as long as they didn’t use soap it was OK for them to scrub the coagulated potatoes and cheese into the lake. Wonder how their coffee tasted the next morning? Another group followed bath time (with a bar of soap) with dishwashing. What do we do? Hand them a scoop of bathwater with a straw in it? Yum.
Print issues? I do have a work-around if you now have Windows 10 on your computer but don’t have admin privileges. Call me for details or if you’re struggling with printing. A quick fix—if it’s due to Windows 10, go back out and find the permit again, then hit ‘reprint permit’. It will print because it won’t be depending on the pop up button working.


Rebecca Manlove
Information Assistant
Forest Service
Superior National Forest, Kawishiwi Ranger District
p: 218-365-2093
rmanlove@fs.fed.us

1393 Highway 169
Ely, MN 55731
www.fs.fed.us


Caring for the land and serving people

For all you island seekers, I just saw a male bear swim across a 1/2 mile mid lake section of Kawnipi. Apparently just to get to the other side as it simply just grazed the shoreline for 20 minutes afterword. I might add it didn't look too winded either.

Using the precious lakes as a sink: Gross

I have been paddling BWCA/Quetico for 34 years. The mandatory video is not enough. Party chiefs need to impart some reverence well before the trip. We make sure all new paddlers on on-board with 'leave-no-trace' ethics, but this means bringing collapsible kitchen sinks, and sun-shower setups far from the water. This way there is no choice for the newbies but to participate. One trip and they are locked in.

Bear hygiene means absolutely no food or candy in tents, and no scraps or grease in the campfire area. We had a camper bring some Jolly Rancher candies into the tent surreptitiously . . we had a 2AM visitor pushing into the tent door. Extreme terror!!

OldRez: "Using the precious lakes as a sink: Gross


I have been paddling BWCA/Quetico for 34 years. The mandatory video is not enough. Party chiefs need to impart some reverence well before the trip. We make sure all new paddlers on on-board with 'leave-no-trace' ethics, but this means bringing collapsible kitchen sinks, and sun-shower setups far from the water. This way there is no choice for the newbies but to participate. One trip and they are locked in.


Bear hygiene means absolutely no food or candy in tents, and no scraps or grease in the campfire area. We had a camper bring some Jolly Rancher candies into the tent surreptitiously . . we had a 2AM visitor pushing into the tent door. Extreme terror!!"

I'm almost to the point where if I do any cooking, it's not in the same camp I sleep in. Eating lunch/breakfast out on the water, or well away from camp if possible. The bears aren't that bad up there, but I had one run in with a bear over 20 years ago- and that was enough for me, haha.

Yes education is key to transformation. Remember when EVERYBODY smoked cigarettes? People can learn.

A notice posted of a nice fat fine might discourage people who wash their dishes in the lake. At the bottom of the notice put an image of a pair of binoculars.

I suppose burning grease in a hot fire is open to some debate as to its efficacy. I figure it's far better than dumping it out somewhere or trying to bury it, or worse yet tossing it into the lake.

In the original post up top, I see there is talk of a bear visiting campsites on Back Bay.

Haven't seen that talked about anywhere else on this forum, but I can certainly say that makes sense. Myself and four buddies stayed at one of the sites back in mid-May and when we arrived at the site it was in terrible shape. Previous tenants left Gatorade bottles in the firepit, random trash and wrappers were strewn about. We picked up everything we could, and still stayed there that night, though I was a little curious if we would have any visitors.

It was a very bear-y looking site to begin with, lots of undergrowth and brambles, I'm sure there were berry bushes nearby.

Anybody have any more information on the Back Bay bear?

Thanks for posting!

T

We always worry about how a campsite has been treated by others prior to our visit. Not how we keep it clean and bear proof as we know better.
As for fines they will do little good as people know there is no one or few people to hand them out.