Last week, Bruce Woodruff, who hunts the big woods on state land in the Town of North Elba in Essex County, sent me photos of a radio-collared black bear, asking if there was a bear study going on.

After checking with the Department of Environmental Conservation in Ray Brook, I found out that bear, a female, is one of three collared bears left in the eastern High Peaks Region.

It was collared in 2001 -- according to DEC Wildlife Biologist Ed Reed, who looked over the photos -- and is one of the nuisance bears that roamed the March Dam, ADK Lodge, Flowed Lands area. That brought to mind the reasons for the original study that has since been scaled down:

Estimate the number, sex and age of bears in the Marcy/Lake Colden area.

Determine home ranges, seasonal movements and habitat use of the bears.

Determine the effectiveness of adverse conditioning (harassment) of nuisance bears.

Develop a management plan to reduce negative bear/human encounters.

Says Reed, "We believe there are about eight bears in that area, mostly all males, because it is prime habitat with an excellent food supply, so the larger males keep out other bears. That female is the only one I know of in the study area."

DEC has also found the male bears travel great distances at times.

"One with a GPS collar climbed the top of Mount Marcy," Reed says, "then denned by Panther Mountain." Another, Reed adds, traveled all the way to Crown Point.

As for the discouraging of nuisance bears by firing rubber bullets to harass them, Reed says that hasn't worked. Probably the best that can be expected in that regard is the continued use of the required steps to properly dispose of food scraps and use bear-proof containers.

As of now, all the radio collars on the bears have dead batteries, so DEC is relying on observers like Bruce Woodruff to report collared bears. To do so, call 897-1294.

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