Bears and Pipeline Construction in Alaska

Abstract

Serious problems were encountered with bears during construction of the 1274-km-long trans-Alaska oil pipelinebetween Prudhoe Bay and Valdez. This multi-billion-dollar project traversed both black bear (Ursus americanus Pallas) and grizzly bear (U. arctos L.) habitat throughout its entire length. Plans for dealing with anticipated problems with bears were often inadequate. Most (71 %) problems occurred north of the Yukon River in a previously roadless Wilderness where inadequate refuse disposal and widespread animal feeding created dangerous situations. Of the 192 officially reported bear problems associated with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) (1971-79), about 65% involved the presence of bears in camps or dumps, 13% the feeding of bears on garbage or handouts, 10% property damage or economic loss, 7% bears under and in buildings, and only5% charges by bears. Remarkably, no bear-related injuries were reported, suggesting that bears became accustomed to people and did not regard them as a threat. Following construction of the TAPS there have been proposals for pipelines to transport natural gas from Prudhoe Bay to southern and Pacific-rim markets. Based on past experience, some animal control measures were developed during the planning phase for the authorized gas pipeline route in Alaska. Fences installed around 100-person "survey" camps were found to be effective in deterring bears in two traditionally troublesome areas. Key words: bears, pipelines, bear-human conflicts, Alaska RESUME. Au cours de la construction de l'oleoduc trans-alaskien realis& sur une longueur de 1274 km entre Prudhoe Bay et Valdez, de serieux problemes sont survenus, dans lequels des ours etaient impliques. La totalite de cette ligne coiitant plusieurs milliards de dollars traversait des zones frequent& par Yours noir (Ursus americanus Pallas) et le grizzly (U. arctos L.). Les plans permettant de faire face aux problemes qui avaient et6 prevus avec les ours se sont souvent revel& inadequats. La plupart des problemes (71 %) sont survenus au nord du fleuve Yukon, dans un region sauvage oh il n'existait pas de route auparavant et oh l'elimination inadequate des dkhets jointe a la pratique courante d'offrir de la nourriture aux animaux, crkerent une situation dangereuse. Des 192 rapports officiels concernant les problemes dus aux ours en rapport avec la construction du Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) de 1971 a 1979,65 % environ impliquaient la presence d'ours dans des camps ou des descharges, 13 % le fait que les ours venaient manger dans les poubelles ou chercher la nourriture qui leur etait offerte, 10 % des deglts materiels ou des pertes economiques, 7 % la presence d'ours en dessous ou A l'interieur des bltiments, et seulement 5 % des attaques pars des ours. Fait surprenant, on n'a rapport6 aucune blessure due a des attaques par lesours, ce qui donne penser quecesderniers s'etaient habitues la presence humaineet nese sentaient pas menaces. Apres la construction du TAPS, il a et6 question de construire des pipelines pour transp...

Responses of nesting greater white‐fronted geese to oil development in the Arctic

“…Infrastructure (e.g., buildings, towers, bridges) on gravel pads and pipelines provide roosts and nesting sites for avian predators, such as common raven ( Corvus corax ; Powell and Backensto 2009) and peregrine falcon ( Falco peregrinus ; Frost et al 2007), that would be less abundant without these structures. Additionally, human food refuse can attract avian and mammalian predators of birds and nests to industrial sites (Eberhardt et al 1982, 1983; Follmann and Hechtel 1990; Burgess 2000; Weiser and Powell 2011), resulting in higher egg predation. Human presence and activities can make nests more vulnerable to predators if they result in reduced incubation constancy by females (Hockin et al 1992, Liebezeit et al 2009, Meixell and Flint 2017), which can increase egg predation.…”