Yellowstone grizzlies bears have lost a critically important food source--high-fat, high-calorie whitebark pine seeds--but officials say, "Let them eat truffles."
False truffles. Mushrooms. According to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team's annual report for 2010, "As an alternative to whitebark pine seeds, grizzly bears made extensive use of false truffles in September and October of 2010." (p.41)
Non-fat, low-calorie false truffles are not an alternative to whitebark pine seeds. Grizzlies could eat all the truffles in Yellowstone and France and not get 1/10,000th of the calories they used to get from whitebark pine seeds.
In addition, whitebark pine trees grow at timberline where there are no ranches or subdivisions, and few human visitors. False truffles grow at lower elevations where people live and recreate.
Seventy percent of whitebark pine trees in the Yellowstone region have died in the past decade. That's roughly akin to 70% of the spawning salmon on Kodiak Island disappearing. In both cases, the carrying capacity for bears is reduced. The population will decrease in the long run.
Discussing the whitebark pine crisis with the Missoulian in 2007, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator Chris Servheen said, "The key issue is not that change in pine nut avaibility. The key issue is how they're going to respond to that change."
Since whitebark pine trees began dying off due to beetle kill and disease in 2002, grizzly bear mortality and bear-human conflicts have increased tremendously. An average of 20 grizzlies a year got killed from 2002-2006. From 2007-2011, an average of 40 bears a year have been killed.
This incredible increase in grizzly bear mortality has not been a problem for Servheen because Yellowstone's grizzly population estimates and mortality limits are based on computer generated data. No matter how many verified grizzly deaths occur, Servheen and his colleagues can manipulate the data to make it appear that the population is doing fine.
Concerns about high grizzly bear mortality due to the loss of whitebark pine are met with pat answers. The population is thriving. Since grizzlies are omnivores, they'll use other food. In other words, "Let them eat truffles."
Comments