FWC continues its work on a black bear management plan

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is moving ahead on its plan to create a black bear management plan.

Black bears came close to extinction in Florida but because of a ban on bear hunting the population has rebounded from about 300 to 3,000 over the past 40 years.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission discussed the draft Florida Black Bear Management Plan this week and may make some minor adjustments to the plan before considering it again in June.

The proposed plan includes the establishment of seven bear management units around the state to provide more localized bear management.

The plan also focuses on educating people in areas of high bear activity on how to live in bear country.

And that area seems to be growing.

In 2010, the FWC received more than 4,000 calls from citizens about bears.

More than half of those calls were related to bears rummaging through garbage.

Some of the issues the commission will take a closer look at over the next few months include updating bear population estimates, reducing human-bear conflicts and continuing the review of land-use changes impacting bear habitat.

Members of the public also expressed opinions on whether to allow bear hunting in Florida but that is likely not going to happen.

Commissioners this week gave tentative approval to a proposed rule that would make it unlawful to injure or kill bears, continuing protections similar to the ones granted to bears as a state threatened species.

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