Bear in the Back Seat by Kim DeLozier and Carolyn Jourdan

Source of book: I own this.

 

My friends Peter and Patty, with whom I have shared a number memorable outdoor adventures, gave me this book. 

 

This book is by longtime NPS ranger and bear expert Kim DeLozier, and veteran ghostwriter Carolyn Jourdan. I assume Ms. Jourdan put Mr. DeLozier’s memories of working with bears and other wildlife down on paper for him, and should be recognized for creating a compelling and entertaining read. 

 Kim DeLozier served as a park ranger at Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a number of decades before his retirement. His primary duty was as a “wildlife ranger,” and included culling the feral hogs which had overrun the park, as well as reintroducing otters and falcons and other native animals which had been driven from the park before it was protected. But mostly, he dealt with bears. 

 

GSMNP, is, like most US parks and forests, home to the Black Bear. The much larger Grizzly Bear is found in northern states, particularly Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming. The Grizzly used to be far more widespread - it is even on the California state flag - but was exterminated in much of its range back in the 19th Century. 

 

Here in California, there are plenty of Black Bears, however, and we have seen them often on our backcountry hikes. In fact, we are required to carry bear containers for our overnight excursions for that reason. One place that has a lot of humans in contact with bears is the Yosemite valley. I have seen bears there myself. However, as DeLozier points out, Yosemite is small potatoes compared to GSMNP. The Yosemite Valley is estimated to have about 16 bears living there at any given time. The backcountry, of course, has more, but not that many per square mile. 

 

GSMNP has 1600-1800 bears. And gets twice the visitors as Yosemite. Suffice it to say that this has lead to a large number of problems, many of which DeLozier had to deal with. 

 

The central problem comes not from bears, but from humans. Humans are...not very bright. At least enough of them aren’t. And, for a long time, humans didn’t consistently take the actions necessary to prevent problems. 

 

In the case of GSMNP, as in most places, it all started with garbage. Bears eat garbage, get used to it, want more of it, and lose their fear of humans. This never ends well for the bear, and often not for the humans either. The challenge for DeLozier wasn’t that the NPS didn’t know how to keep garbage away from bears, but that the increase in the sheer number of visitors overwhelmed the garbage system, leaving the bear-proof cans full, and thus garbage was piled on top. While this was being resolved, Kim and his co-workers had to sedate and relocate dozens of bears. This worked for many, but it still didn’t solve stupidity. 

 

I’d decided the best strategy for this bear was to move her to a less populated area at least forty miles away where she could live out her life in peace, safely away from a high concentration of hikers and campers. Fortunately, some bears can usually be managed this way. Tourists, on the other hand, are often impossible to deal with. 

 

Like the guy who circled around behind a mama bear and her cubs to get a better photo shot. The bear chased him, and knocked him down into a fallen tree. Where he impaled his nuts. Kim was not, shall we say, sympathetic. 

 

As I have told those who hike and camp with me, fear of bears is just paranoia. Notwithstanding a very few stories of problem bears in this book, overwhelmingly, bears just want to be left alone. The problems seem to always stem from people who either leave food or garbage out, or who initiate contact with bears. (Yes, I have seen this! What is wrong with people?) Kim himself started out afraid of wildlife when he went to work for the NPS. There were plenty of scare stories out there, and it took him a while to separate fact from fiction. 

 

If you spend enough years in the woods, eventually you come to know that nothing’s gonna jump out and get you. Most wild animals have a survival instinct that tells them to stay away from people. It was more dangerous to drive my truck to work than it was to walk in the backcountry. 

 

Yes indeed. 

 

There are some pretty funny stories in the book. DeLozier has a self-deprecating sense of humor, and is unafraid to tell of all the times he got himself in trouble. 

 

I loved the one where he follows this “beeping” noise, and ends up with a very irate mother grouse chasing him down the trail. 

 

Another one involves the relocation of a bunch of skunks. Except that they were able to slip through the bars of the cage (intended for larger animals) in the back of the truck. And then, the rangers discovering that skunks didn’t know how to jump off the tailgate. So, they had to quickly fling the skunks overboard before they would spray. And then, of course, the skunks (who were used to people), sat there looking at the rangers as they beat their retreat. (We have a surprising number of skunks here in my city. I am shocked that I haven’t seen one in my yard yet, considering we have possums all the time, and raccoons.) 

 

The book is, as these excerpts indicate, breezy and colloquial. Kim DeLozier is kind of your Everyman Ranger Guy, but a bit of an introvert, and openly Christian in a generic and non-pushy way. (Occasional references to God when it comes to the beauty and joy of the wilderness.) His affection for nature and animals is palpable, as is his passion for conservation and care of our wild spaces. And I rather concur with that. 

 

It’s a short, quick read, plenty of fun, and yet also full of good advice for coexisting with wild creatures. 

 

***

 

On a related note, here is the picture I got of a bear back in 2016, in Sequoia National Park. Don't worry, this was with a long zoom lens. We watched it tear apart dead trees to eat the ants. From a safe distance.