Historic Range

Louisiana State University, Virginia Tech, University of Arkansas, and University of Tennessee have conducted collaborative research projects to explore the effects of past reintroductions of black bears from Minnesota into Arkansas and Louisiana. They examined the genetics of black bears from northwestern and southeastern Arkansas, the Tensas and Atchafalya River Basins of Louisiana, and Minnesota.

Arkansas

In 1985, Dr. Michael Pelton from University of Tennessee supervised Tommy Smith’s research on the ecology of black bears in bottomland hardwoods of Arkansas. Brandon Wear, under Dr. Clark at University of Tennessee, studied the reintroduction of bears from White River NWR to Felsenthal NWR in Arkansas.

Louisiana

Most of the research efforts on the bear population in the Tensas River Basin were supervised by Dr. Mike Pelton from University of Tennessee. Keith Weaver examined bear movements, denning habits, foods, and reproductive success of bears on Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge. Following Weaver’s work, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supported several graduate students in northeast Louisiana to study bears under Dr. Pelton. Forrest Marchinton, Don Anderson, and Rich Beausolei have done research on bears in the Epps Plantation (Formerly Deltic Timber) tracts north of Tensas River NWR. Marchinton studied bear movements, Anderson looked at habitat use and feeding ecology, and Beausolei researched population ecology. Under the direction of Dr. Joe Clark, Mark Boersen estimated bear population abundance on Tensas River NWR using a DNA hair-snare technique. While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has supported research through universities, they also actively trap bears in the Tensas River Basin in the ongoing effort to gather information about the bear. As other research winds down, Service biologists will continue to manage bears and trap and collar females with the potential to be used in the repatriation efforts.

Research on the bear populations located in the Atchafalaya River Basin has been primarily through Louisiana State University.  In 1971, David Taylor looked at the history and status of bears in Louisiana and, in 1988, Andrew Hammond revisited the status of bears in the state.  Dr. Richard Pace directed several research projects on bears, primarily in south-central (Pointe Coupee Parish) and coastal (St. Mary and Iberia Parishes) Louisiana.  Bob Wagner examined the movement patters of bears in south0central and coastal Louisiana, and later evaluated landscape-scale habitat use of bears throughout the state.  Phillip Nyland researched bear habitat use in coastal Louisiana, and Pat Stinson studied bears in the Tunica Hills region.  Deb Triant looked at the efficacy of using DNA hair snares to estimate the population and genetic diversity of the south-central and coast bear populations.  Dwayne Hightower studied bear movements in south-central and coastal Louisiana.  Under the direction of Dr. Mike Chamberlain, Kyle Van Why examined the feasibility of restoring the Louisiana black bear to parts of the historic range.  U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists conducted additional bear research in St. Mary and Iberia Parishes in conjunction with Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge.

Mississippi

Early bear research in Mississippi focused on public attitudes and habitat suitability.  Studies conducted by Shropshire (1996) and Bowman (1999) showed that Mississippi contained suitable habitat in pockets throughout the state that could serve as "starting points" for Mississippi's bear population.  early research also concluded that the people of Mississippi were in favor of restoring bears to Mississippi's natural lands, but knew very little about bears in general.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) Black Bear Program was started in June of 2002.  It was identified early on that education would be a primary objective of the program as acceptance of black bears was the only way the bear could make a meaningful comeback to the state.  Field research was limited at the time due to the fact that only 25 to 40 bears were estimated to inhabit the state. 

As time went on, however, more and more bear sightings began to filter in from all over the state.  Eventually, some bears were captured and fitted with tracking collars for monitoring.  About this same time, collared female bears from neighboring states began to make their way into Mississippi, and provided the first documented birth of black bear cubs in the state in 2005.   As more and more bears were captured and collared, it became evident that a more organized research approach would be needed to gain meaningful information about the state's growing bear population.

Texas

Historically, research on bears in east Texas has heen conducted by the Texas Wildlife and Parks Department.  Department biologists Nathan Garner and Sean Willis examined habitat suitability for bears in east Texas.  Clint Epps looked specifically at habitat suitability of Big Thicket National Preserve for bears through his research at Rice University.

Under the direction of Dr. Jack Liu from Michigan State University, Anita Morzillo conducted a comprehensive research project for a 12 county area in east Texas.  She conducted a public opinion survey, a habitat suitability analysis, and created a model to predict the feasibility of a successful bear reintroduction in the area.