Panel rejects bear hunting season in Nevada

Martin Griffith

Saturday, Sept. 26, 1998 | 11:41 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Citing concerns over the long-term bear population in the Lake Tahoe area, a state panel shot down a plan Saturday to establish Nevada's first bear hunting season.

The Board of Wildlife Commissioners voted 8-1 to reject the proposal by a Reno hunter after state wildlife biologists said a two-year study was necessary to determine whether there are enough black bears to sustain a hunt.

The vast majority of Nevada's 200 to 300 black bears live in the Carson Range on Lake Tahoe's east shore and are plagued by shrinking habitat because of the region's development, said Division of Wildlife game chief Greg Tanner.

"We would not feel comfortable establishing a season for bear in Nevada," he said, adding that his agency would be hard pressed to study the issue because of limited resources.

Jerry Lowery, who proposed the beat hunting season, didn't appear at Saturday's meeting but called for the hunt in a letter to the commission.

Bear numbers appear to be on the rise in Nevada because of a sharp increase in human encounters over the last decade, he wrote.

Jelindo Tiberti of Las Vegas, the board's lone dissenter, said he thought a hunt would have little effect on bear numbers if hounds and baiting were banned.

But Nevada Humane Society board member Don Molde and bear hunter Gary West shared Tanner's concerns.

"I agree with (Tanner) that we don't have enough information at this time to have a hunt," West said, adding that might not be enough bears to sustain a hunt.

As important symbols of America's natural heritage, bears contribute more to society by living in the wild than by being hunted, Molde added.

Tanner said bear numbers in Nevada may have increased due to four straight wet winters, but he was unsure whether there were enough young bears to sustain a healthy population.

The bear habitat in Nevada not only is adversely affected by urbanization but also is threatened by wildland fires and highways, he said.

NDOW spokesman David Rice said he received a dozen phone calls about the hunt last week, all against it.

In an unrelated matter, four Nevadans spoke out Saturday against regulations that allow commercial reptile collectors to gather as many lizards and snakes as they want in the state.

A Silver Springs woman said she has observed a marked increase in scorpions and gophers and a drop in lizards and snakes in recent years.

Three other people said they enjoy lizards, and don't think it's right to put them into captivity.

Wildlife biologists have expressed concern that the practice could be driving some species toward extinction.

The panel is expected to consider the matter at its November meeting.