20060701 Bear Traffic Controller

Bear Traffic Controller? Well, not really. Bear Traffic Monitor would be more accurate, or perhaps Human Traffic Controller.

Near the mouth of the 1.5-mile Brooks River, an 80-yard floating bridge allows people and small motorized vehicles to cross from the north [Brooks Camp] side of the river to the south [Lower Platform] side and back. Visitors use it to get to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes tour bus, to walk to Brooks Falls to view bears, and to reach Lake Brooks when a strong east wind creates waves that prevent landings or take-offs on Naknek Lake. Employees use it to reach the same locations for work and pleasure purposes. Some employees live at Lake Brooks and must cross the river to go home.

People’s need or desire to cross the river can conflict with the park’s policies of 1) remaining at least 50 yards from bears and 2) yielding the right of way to bears anywhere beyond the buildings area of Brooks Camp. Should a bear come within 50 yards of the bridge, or appear that it may do so shortly, the ranger on the Lower Platform may close the bridge to travel.

Closures may last only a few minutes as a bear swimming downstream, snorkeling for salmon along the way, approaches the bridge, ducks under, then drifts into the river mouth. Or, should a bear decide to take a nap near the bridge or the pathways leading to it, the bridge may close literally for hours. Just as one bear finally moves away after a two-hour snooze and those imprisoned on the Lower Platform or across the river at a trail bend known as “the corner” anticipate moving, another bear may pop out of the woods and move to the bridge area.

This can lead to people missing meals at the lodge—meals for which they paid a great deal of money. Delays due to bridge closure also delay flights out of Brooks Camp on a regular basis. The small airplanes usually wait, but some folks have connecting flights in King Salmon and Anchorage, where larger aircraft will leave them behind. Bridge closures can prevent day-use visitors, all of whom paid a great deal to fly here, from reaching Brooks Falls in a timely way to take that once-in-a-lifetime photo of a giant brown bear catching a sockeye salmon. Thus visitors and lodge management may question the Lower Platform ranger’s judgement in closing the bridge and pressure the ranger to open the bridge.

Today I served as the Lower Platform ranger for the first time since bears and people moved into the Brooks Camp area in some numbers. At most times during my 5.5 hours on the platform, bears were visible and often four or five not counting cubs. These bears were almost always on the move. Numerous times I closed the bridge, but never for more than about 20 minutes at a time. Visitors were supportive of my attempt to play the human side of the chess board, closing the bridge when bears were close and reopening it when I felt bears had moved off far enough for safety.

This is a heckuva responsibility if you ask me. What if that bear does not keep moving away and instead turns around and heads straight for visitors I have allowed to move? Not being noted for my calmness, this makes me a bit nervous.

Thank goodness for salmon and lots of them. I’ve been told salmon save many visitors and me when we find ourselves closer than we really would like to be to a speedy several-hundred-pound predator. Why bother with humans when the river is full of tasty calorie-rich fish?

I’ve been told but has anyone told the bears?

“Ranger Tim you are cleared for takeoff on runway B.”