Tag Archives: bears

A Florida River, St Lucie 1950-2050?

Looking up the North Fork of the St Lucie River towards what became Port St. Lucie 1957, Ruhnke Collection, courtesy Sandra Thurlow.

A Florida River, A Look at Wildlife 1950, by E.W. Dutton.

“This film shows a trip down the St. Lucie River with E.W. Dutton. Viewers see gators, blue herons, and many plants and flowers. The film also shows a red-shoulder hawk, sandhill crane, armadillo, black bear and cub, rattlesnake, land crab, and a gator being fed by hand. “Now a NO! NO! “Viewers see pelicans, mullet, cormorant, deer and a Florida panther.” ~Florida Memory.

Click on arrow below or the link here to view short film. 

Recently, my mother sent me this wildlife video filmed by E.W. Dutton, well known for his work of the St Lucie River and for area Chambers. His films bring one back to a time when not as many people lived here, and wildlife was prolific including animals unable to live along the river today such as deer, bears, and panthers. At this time the North Fork was a game sanctuary and conservation laws were respected in the South Fork.

E.W. Dutton, Ruhnke-Thurlow Collection

Wikipedia shows the population of St Lucie County as 20,180 in 1950.

And the population of Martin County as 7,807 in 1950.

The UF Bureau of Economic and Business Research projected population leads me to think that by 2050 there may no wildlife left anywhere in the region of the St Lucie River unless we curb development, work to “wild” our yards, work to live with wildlife rather that eradicate it, get more serious about highway over and underpasses and promoting and supporting the Florida Wildlife Corridor, including parts of Martin and St Luice County. Let’s make 2023 a turn in that direction! Kudos to the Loxa-Lucie Headwaters Initiative in Hobe Sound that added lands this year.

PROJECTED POPULATION COMPARED TO 1950 ST LUCIE RIVER REGION

St Luice County:  1950 population 20,180; 2020, 329,226; high projected  population by 2050, 601,400.

Martin County:  1950 population 7,807; 2020, 158,431; high projected population by 2050 – 277,700.

*Sources: Wiki and UF Bureau of Economic and Business Research

12-27-22 bio E. W. Dutton

Jay Exum’s Bears

All bear photos by Jay Exum, Seminole County, FL.

As one of the newest board members of “FWF,” I recently I met Jay Exum,  board chair of the Florida Wildlife Federation (http://fwfonli4.w20.wh-2.com/site). Jay lives in Seminole County, just north of Orlando and one of his specialties is bears. Recently, I witnessed his over-the-top bear photographs, particularly the ones of bears hanging in trees like Christmas balls; I asked if I could share the photos on by blog. Jay was happy to do such, and that is why I entitled this post “Jay Exum’s Bears.”

Perhaps for people who live in Central Florida Jay’s photos are no bear-big-deal, but for me, where the last black bear in our region was killed in 1926 on Hutchinson Island by Captain Billy Pitchford, these photos are absolutely amazing.  Black bears, of course, used to live throughout Florida. I know that there are concerns with bear/human interaction, but my heart always goes out to the bears. And in the case of Billy Pitchford’s Martin County bear, that bear was just trying to get the honey. Isn’t that what we’re all trying to do? The best way forward for bears, and for people, is to continue to create and connect Florida’s wildlife corridors.

Enjoy!

Jay’s comments:

Florida bear ranges and BMUs: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/bmu/

Mother and Cubs

Living with bears!

Links:

FWC: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/numbers/

FWC2: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/

Orlando Sentinel,2014:”Bearlando:”http://interactive.orlandosentinel.com/bears/index.html

Washington Post 2015: “Florida Bear Hunt:”https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/10/29/298-bears-killed-in-florida-hunt-that-ignored-science/?utm_term=.c176425b096b

Other post on subject JTL:

https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/tag/hutchison-island-black-bears/

https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/tag/controversies-of-bear-hunting-florida/

https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2014/02/25/black-bears-of-hutchinson-island-our-wild-past/

Investment FLORIDA WILDLIFE CORRIDORS, or greenways,  is the best way to help bears and other wildlife move through out their needed range even as Florida will continue to develop. We don’t want to live in a shopping mall; we want to keep parts of Florida wild.

My Dream of the Last Black Bear on Hutchinson Island and the “One Sided War,” SLR/IRL

Hutchinson Island is located on the east side of the Indian River Lagoon–

Stuart News article 1976
“Captain Billy Pitchford” with the black bear he killed with a .303 Savage when it was raiding bee hives on Hutchison Island opposite Jensen Beach. This was the last bear killed on Hutchinson Island, 1926. (Stuart (Florida) News, 1969, archives, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow)
FWC camp Ocala, (JTL)
FWC Conservation and Youth Camp Ocala, (JTL)
....
Lake Eaton

I find myself thinking of bears…recently I was in Silver Springs with my UF Natural Resources Leadership Institute class. We were staying at the Florida Wildlife Commissions’ Ocala Conservation Center and Youth Camp. That night, I couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning—the springs under my mattress squeaked relentlessly through the dead-aired, dark, dusty cabin. I knew I was keeping my bunk-mates awake. It was 2:00AM. I decided to get up. Walking out the door into cool darkness the stars shone like diamonds in a velvet sky; Orion looked down on me as he has since my childhood.

Standing alone in glory of the night, I wondered if I would see a bear. After all, I was in “bear country”…There had been a lot of talk about bears and the controversies of hunting during our session. I imagined that if I did see a bear, I would do what they say to do. I would stand tall and slowly back up. I would not run.

Later that night I fell asleep in my car, and dreamt of bears. In my dream, I forgot the rules and I ran.  The bear did not chase me, but rather stood up like a human and summoned me to a large rock; I went to him and he told me a story… his story of being the last bear shot on Hutchinson Island in Martin County, 1926…

Black Bear public image.
Black Bear public image.
Stuart (Florida) News, 1926
Story: The Last Black Bear on Hutchison Island. Stuart (Florida) News, 1926. (Courtesy of historian, Sandra Henderson Thurlow’s archives)

The bear looked me straight in the eye and began speaking in a steady, low voice:

“For countless centuries there were black bears on Hutchinson Island…they co-existed with the Indians whose mounds are found there. We roamed the beaches on the long summer nights, digging up loggerhead turtle eggs. When the white settlers came a few sailed over from the mainland to put out bees on the island and we knocked over the hives to get the honey…

It was tough being a bear….white men and bears were enemies in a one-sided war. In 1926 I was shot by Captain Billy Pitchford. I was the last bear on Hutchinson Island…”

Suddenly I awoke. My car window was open;  I heard owls hooting close by and the wind whistling through the spanish moss. My bones ached and moisture coated everything. I rolled on my side thinking about my dream. Thinking about the last bear shot on Hutchinson Island and the old Stuart News article my mother had given me…

Bears, I though…

“A one-sided war….”

That was the message.

The Florida Wildlife Commission sanctioned  bear hunt, the first since 1994, will begin in two days on October 24th. There is nothing wrong with hunting, but a man of dignity should never take pride in winning a one-sided war.
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FWC FAQ: (http://m.myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/bear/plan-faqs/hunting-faqs/)
News 13:

MyNews 13 (http://mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/6/24/fwc_bear_hunt_vote.html)

UF NRLI: (http://nrli.ifas.ufl.edu)

FWC, 2015.
FWC, 2015.
Image west coast newsletter, 2015.
Image west coast newsletter, 2015.