THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701130047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 78 lines
Somewhere in this rambling city, two orphans roam the swamps and dense woods, their mother among 10 black bears killed this winter on Suffolk and Chesapeake highways near the Great Dismal Swamp.
With the bear population of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge increasing and the development of formerly rural areas bringing more automobile traffic, experts say it's no surprise that more of the bears are being killed. While last year's total was 14, the 10 bears have died since early fall.
Most of the casualties have been female, although local game wardens know that males also roam under normal conditions.
But conditions aren't normal for bears in the refuge and adjacent swamps and woodlands, experts say.
The bear population has grown to about 1.5 bears per mile, said Glen Askins, southeastern regional manager for the Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries. The increase is spreading south to counties in North Carolina and west to Isle of Wight, Southampton and Sussex counties.
When the plant-eating mammals take their search for food from the refuge, where they are protected from hunters and motor vehicles, they encounter subdivisions, people and motor vehicles that whiz along in 55 mph speed zones.
More people moving into rural areas of Suffolk and Chesapeake bring more traffic on highways like Routes 58, 17, 32 and 13, and increase the risk that more bears will die.
Michael Lane of Davis Environmental Consultants of Virginia Beach said the development of rural areas likely will result in ``continued fragmenting'' of the bear habitat. In the long term, the development could be a serious threat to the swamp's black bears, Lane said at last week's Third Dismal Swamp Symposium, at Old Dominion University.
``It's likely now that the Dismal Swamp population is increasing at a faster rate,'' Eric Hellgren said. ``That's why the bears are moving out.''
Black bears usually have litters every other year. Hellgren found the average litter size in the swamp to be slightly over two.
And unlike bears of colder climates, local bears hibernate only if temperatures dip. Usually, they continue to roam and feed.
Last fall, nearly 30 Dismal Swamp bears were trapped and carted by the Game Commission to the mountains of Virginia.
``Suffolk is predicted to be the next big boom town,'' said Lane. ``Right now, it's happening in the northern end of the city. If they'd like to leave the rest alone and call it a big park, that would be fine with me.''
That's unlikely, so planners in Chesapeake and Suffolk are considering the bears as they look to the future.
Cindy Taylor, principal planner with the City of Suffolk, said that the city is in the process of updating its comprehensive plan and that several planning officials have expressed concern over development's threat to the swamp.
Lane, in his talk, pinpointed areas around Desert and White Marsh roads, in the southeastern part of the city, where farmettes and signs advertising future large-lot homesites are popping up fast. Taylor agreed those are the areas of most concern.
Chesapeake also is working on its comprehensive plan, said Jaleh Pett, comprehensive planning coordinator.
``We've been giving a lot of thought to the Dismal Swamp - not only the environmental features but also from a historic perspective,'' Pett said. ``We'd like to see it protected and preserved..''
In the Deep Creek section of Chesapeake, Lane said, only about 300 acres of woodlands separates the swamp from a rapidly developing subdivision. Pett, however, said the swamp provides its own natural barrier in that area.
``The further back you get, the swampier the land gets,'' she said. ``That land simply can't be developed.''
Lane said one remedy might be tax incentives for farmers to keep the land in agricultural use, as most of it is currently zoned.
``It's unrealistic to believe that growth and development will be completely avoided,'' he said. Meanwhile, Pritchard hopes to keep track of the two orphaned cubs, and he hopes the young bears can escape starvation, older males and unsuspecting motorists.
The cubs, thought to be about 18 months old and to weigh about 60 pounds each, were spotted by hunters last weekend about two miles west of Route 32, near Cypress Chapel.
That is about 10 miles away from the Route 58 spot where their mother was killed.