Responses of American Black Bears to the Chimney Tops Fire in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Clark J, Braunstein J, Blair C, Muller L. 2019. Responses of American Black Bears to the Chimney Tops Fire in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In American Fisheries Society & The Wildlife Society 2019 Joint Annual Conference. Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Reno, Nevada
ABSTRACT: Little is known about how wildfire may affect American black bear (Ursus americanus) movements in the eastern U.S. On November 23, 2016, wildfire was reported in the Chimney Tops region of Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. On 28 November, strong winds, with gusts up to 87 mph (140 kph) caused the fire to spread rapidly. Multiple wildfires developed and spread to large the city of Gatlinburg with about 72-km2 being burned, including a large area in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Eight bears within the vicinity of the wildfire were equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) wildlife tracking collars as part of 2 separate studies prior to the fire event. We evaluated space use, movement rates, and mean direction of travel in a before-after-control-impact design to determine how bears reacted to the fire. We found no differences in spatial use between bears that were exposed to fire (treatment, n=8) and not exposed (control, n=12) and no mortalities of collared bears were documented. Several bears were in the path of the fire but survived. Possible reasons for these results will be discussed.
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Clark, Joseph; Braunstein, Jessica; Blair, Coy; Muller, Lisa
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- American black bear, Chimney Tops 2 fire, GRSM-01222, GRSM-01259, Ursus americanus, wildland fire, wildlife management