Lower Peninsula bear population moving south

About six years ago, Brandon Township resident Robert Roop’s father reported a nuisance black bear devastating his bird feeder near his home in the Cadillac area.
‘I finally had a chance to hunt up there,? said Roop. ‘I won the permit on my seventh try’it was my fourth bear, two from Canada and one from the UP.?
Roop, 45, connected on a 325-pound black bear in northern Wexford County near the village of Buckley on Sept.27. Roop’s bear was taken via a special permit awarded after a lottery for the Lower Peninsula September bear hunting season. After six tries, Roop finally secured the bear permit, and considering the number of animals in the region of Michigan, the hunt was successful.
‘We don’t have as many bear in the Lower Peninsula, as we do in the Upper,? said David Bostick, Michigan Department of Natural Resources Bear and Fur Bearer Specialist. ‘In Michigan, about 90 percent are in the Upper compared to 10 percent in the Lower, but that’s changing. There’s good habitat downstate.?
Bostick said that between 1991 and 2002, a study confirmed a high productivity rate of cub birth rates throughout Michigan, including the Lower Peninsula. The study concluded that steady food sources in the core bear area of Alpena, Gaylord, and Roscommon promoted the bear population growth.
‘Right now, we’re estimating a population of about 1,800 bear in the Lower Peninsula,? said Bostick. ‘If you draw a diagonal line from about Alpena to Muskegon, bear roam just north of that line, but that’s changing and moving south. The population is nearing capacity in the northern sections of the Lower Peninsula and expanding south following the river systems. An adult bear typically ranges about 300 miles, and with the higher amounts of food in the southern tier of counties, such as cherries, corn and beehives, it won’t be long before we’ll have bear living in the south.?
‘Once bear get the taste of human types of food, it’s a bad habit and they get into trouble.?
Bostick said that in early 2007 the DNR will announce a new state bear management plan in an effort to determine the number of animals maintainable in the Lower Peninsula for hunting and viewing.