Impact on all bear species (especially brown and black
bears)
Land mammals that are "most likely to interact with or be affected by the
proposed operations (drilling) are river otters, black bears, and brown
bears"
(4). Brown bears use the coastal areas from April to November, relying
especially on coastal meadows, beaches, and shorelines for food (4). As
they feed on salmon, and other fish, uncontaminated water sources are essential
to their survival, especially during summer and early fall when brown bears
"congregate along coastal streams" (4). Therefore chemical runoff of
drilling released in streams would affect the bear population. Also, if ice
roads are to be build, and these depleting the water supply would decrease the
fish population in rivers, the bears would be additionally affected.
In the case of Prudhoe Bay, it has been observed that bears are attracted to the
pipelines and oil developments by sheer curiosity, food odors, or trash (4, pg.
118). These bears become food conditioned and return to these places. If this
happens often enough, and this event threatens human security, these bears have
to be shot. In fact in a study of Prudhoe Bay oilfields (Shideler and Hechtel
2000) , it was found that "mortality rates of all adults and subadults that
fed on anthropogenic [of human origin] foods was significantly higher than for
bears that fed on natural foods" (4, pg. 118). This finding could be
related to the toxicity of human wastes or to the fact that these bears had to
be killed by humans, as was before mentioned, because food conditioning
occurred. Additionally, it is possible that in the future, "increased access
opportunities (roads and airstrips) and changes in village lifestyles or
economies could result in more bears being killed for sport and
subsistence"
(4) especially as these animals are attracted to human settlements.
Another area of concern is the "construction of industrial facilities [that
would] result in alteration or destruction of grizzly bear habitat" (4). This
especially concerns disturbances created by roads or drilling that can affect
the denning habitat of bears, and change food availability. This is especially
dangerous if oil development is to spread into the foothills, as these provide
the major habitats of bears. (4)
It also must be taken into account that bears are the predators that top the
food chain, implying that any change in their dynamics would also affect that of
other organisms residing in the lower branches of the food chain. For
example, if bear population is to increase because of increase access to food
coming from human wastes, or if it is to decrease as hunting prevails, this will
affect other species. The major species affected by this change in bear
population would be the caribou, the main food source of brown, and black bears.
Increased numbers of bears would decrease the number of caribou present, and
likewise, a decreased number of these predators would probably allow for an
increase in the number of these herbivores.
Works Cited
4. Environmental Assesment, Redouct Shoal Unit Development Project, section 3.8.3 .
http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/water.nsf/0/9316eb066fa30af088256b4b000a77e6/ $FILE/Forest%20Oil%20EA%20Section%2003A%20Affected%20(Baseline)%20Environment.pdf