At the Lake: Bears waking after winter slumber

Just as the shoulder season begins and the number of vacationers visiting the South Shore temporarily declines, Lake Tahoe's traditional residents start to emerge from hibernation.

Nevada Department of Wildlife estimated approximately 200 to 300 bears are concentrated along Nevada's western edge, a border dotted by cities where food waste is increasingly attractive to bears.

"Urban areas are in a lot of ways better than the backcountry," said Carl Lackey, wildlife biologist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. "Last year we had a lot of break-ins. They always break into the kitchen or go straight towards the kitchen. A lot of times they'll ignore people in the house."

Lackey has yet to hear of any bear break-ins in Nevada this season, but anticipated they could begin "any day now."

Break-ins from bears refusing to hibernate have continued through the winter in California, including repeated car and home intrusions in the Meyers area from a black bear weighing well over 500 pounds recently euthanized by California Department of Fish and Game, according to Jason Holley, wildlife biologist for the department.

If his weight estimates are accurate, the bear may be the largest ever recorded at the South Shore.

This discovery puts California directly in line with Lackey's Nevada findings.

The wildlife biologist, who works closely with the Wildlife Conservation Society, said he's seeing urban areas with bigger bears, in higher densities, reproducing in greater numbers than years' past.

Black bears tend to give birth to one or two cubs toward the beginning of February, but 2006 saw an increased number of triplets, and even some reports of quadruplets.

Lackey reasoned the increased number of cubs is due to females going into the winter months in extremely good shape after dining on carelessly disposed of food waste throughout the rest of the year. "Encouraging people to bear-proof their trash, that would solve the problem," he said.

Despite the high birth rates, Lackey estimates the local bear population to be stable, due in no small part to the dangers bears face when foraging in urban areas.

Mortality rates increase 1,500 percent for Nevada bears who grow accustomed to residential areas. Thirty-two black bears were killed last year, with car accidents being the biggest cause of death "by far," according to Lackey.

"It's rare for a family with three or four cubs to make it to maturity," said Ann Bryant, executive director of the BEAR League, a Lake Tahoe-based nonprofit organization that advocates diversionary rather than lethal tactics in dealing with the basin's bear population.

Bryant echoed Lackey's emphasis on keeping trash properly secured to keep bears away from the perils of city life, but encouraged further steps.

Rather than cooing in amazement or gawking at a bear with camera in hand, she suggested people take it upon themselves to discourage bears from coming onto private property.

Clapping and yelling, or banging on a window while safely inside a residence should be enough to scare the generally docile black bear into the backcountry, according to Bryant.

"We are now the dominant species, and we have to act like it," said Bryant. "We can't do that if we're afraid."

If commercial service returns to the Lake Tahoe Airport in the coming years, it may equate to $111 million a year in revenue, mainly from visitor spending on the South Shore between 2008 and 2012.

That's what consultant Nolan Rosall of RRC Associates in Boulder, Colo., projected, along with an estimate of 538,580 passengers coming and going to and from the area. Airlines including Allegiant Air, PSA and Vanguard have tried and failed. But there's potential to attract regional jets seating between 70 and 138 passengers, Rosall added.

"I think there are tremendous advantages in landing in your destination where you're planning on spending your time," Mayor Kathay Lovell said of the economic report, while comparing the arrival with spending over 11?2 hours driving to and parking at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport.

Despite facing public skepticism, a huge investment needed to get the local airport up to post-9/11standards, the failure rate of small airlines, and loss of its manned air tower, the city has never quite let go of the possibility of turning the aviation facility into a landing spot again for commercial carriers.

The desire has been heightened by the upcoming ground breaking of the convention center complex in May, Councilman Ted Long pointed out.

Rosall also estimated visitors " about a third motivated to come here because of commercial service in town " would spend an average of $650 each on their trips. In recognizing some visitors would spend across the state and county line, the city would capture half of the revenue generated by the city, the report adds. Harrah's Lake Tahoe in Stateline operates charter flights out of the small airport " 15 in January, 19 in February, 24 in March and 21 in April.

Rosall used the Eagle County Regional Airport as one example.

Commercial traffic predicted in the study for Tahoe amounts to up to 430,000 people stepping on and off a plane annually " with peaks and valleys of passengers fluctuating from the weekends to midweek days.

The report goes on to predict a third of the visitors would select the area based on access to flights.

But the assumption was quickly disputed by longtime airport critic John Friedrich, who spoke as a South Shore citizen amid questioning from Councilman Mike Weber. Friedrich works as a consultant after a long stint working on staff for the League to Save Lake Tahoe, an environmental advocacy group that spearheaded a legal effort for noise standards at the airport ending in a settlement agreement.

The League had recently created a report of its own on the controversial airport " one that was more critical of its status to the environment.

Friedrich pointed to a 1987 marketing survey conducted by the city, which dictates 80 percent of people who fly said they would have taken the trip to Tahoe even if no scheduled air service were available.

"And history has shown it's not able to sustain commercial service," he said.

He further cited the success of Southwest Airlines constituting over half the flights going in and out of the Reno airport.

"We came to that conclusion with the full knowledge of the variety of service (at Reno)," Rosall countered.

But Councilman Bill Crawford pointed to the report's executive summary own assertion the model not "intended to provide a definitive estimate of the likely economic impacts." He called the statement a disclaimer.