From: David & Monica Harris (harrises@earthlink.net)
Date: Tue Dec 04 2001 - 10:22:27 CST
Marty asked:
> How many undesired bear contacts are there at Philmont in a
summer?
> The standard treks, alone, create something like 20,000
trekkers,
> times 13 nights, or 260,000 camper nights.
>
> When was the last fatal bear attack? I assume that they're
running at
> much less than one fatal attack per year - is that a correct
guess?
>
> If this is too sensitive a topic, please feel free to respond
> off-list.
I'm not sure where you're going with your questions, but suspect
that the issue of relative danger may be at least part it. I have
been following this thread with some interest, and have a few
thoughts. Not all of them are related to this particular post.
I imagine the ratio of bear incidents with campers at Philmont is
at or below that of comparable national or state parks. Trouble
is, that is not a fair apple-to-apples comparison. We are not
talking about an individual adult's decision to take the family to
Yellowstone, Philmont is something different. "We" (individually
as Crew Advisors and collectively as the B.S.A.) are being
entrusted with "precious cargo". Parents are allowing us to take
their kids into 'the wilds', and are trusting "us" to keep them
safe. You cannot tell a parent that "Yes, Johnny lost an ear, but
look at our bear statistics compared to Yellowstone". With the
press attention focused on the BSA, any incident is one too many,
especially when it's a youth involved.
Over the past couple years various environmental issues (most
notably fires and drought) have motivated the bear population to
turn to new areas in search of food. If I recall, prior to 2000
the last year Philmont had significant bear problems was 1986. We
are not in "normal' times, we're at the far end of the bell-curve.
Philmont, like it or not, has responded accordingly. Their
motivation (protection of youth, avoidance of lawsuits....) aside,
they are doing (IMHO) the right thing. The habits they are
advocating may seem like overkill, but none of them will get you
in trouble. Ignoring them just might. In time I expect the bear
precautions will relax again and the cycle will repeat.
David Harris
Camper '78, Ranger '82 & '84, Advisor '93 & '03
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