Ohio's black bear population appears to be growing, with increased sightings and encounters in recent years — including this summer in the Dayton area.
University of Dayton wildlife ecologist and conservation scientist Mariela Gantchoff is using GPS collaring technology to study wild black bears in their natural habitat under a four-year grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The funding, about $51,000 per year to date, supports the field activities of Gantchoff, a doctoral student and undergraduate research technicians. They aim to capture, tag and mark up to 35 black bears to collect detailed biological and movement data.
Currently, no data or studies are available on black bear habitat use, home range size or population statistics in Ohio. Gantchoff's work will help wildlife agencies better predict and manage bear-human interactions, while promoting habitat protection and coexistence efforts.
"As black bears recolonize Ohio, it is important for us to have information on their space use, survival and reproduction to be able to plan for future population growth and make management decisions based on the best available science," said Katie Dennison, wildlife biologist with the ODNR Division of Wildlife. "We're excited to be partnering with Dr. Gantchoff on this project. Her experience studying recolonizing black bear populations in other states will no doubt be a major asset as we seek to learn more about Ohio's growing bear population."
Gantchoff, who joined the UD Department of Biology faculty in 2022, has studied recolonizing black bears for more than 10 years in Mississippi and Missouri. Her team launched its Ohio field work in June, scouting areas in the Ashtabula and Hocking Hills regions for black bears to collar and track during the next few years.
Black bears were once abundant in Ohio but became locally extinct by the mid-1800s because of excessive hunting and deforestation. Their current population is estimated to range from 50-100 in southern and northeastern Ohio, largely driven by bears migrating from neighboring states such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Gantchoff said these bears are naturally recolonizing their historic range in the state because successful conservation efforts are providing a more favorable environment for their return.
"The fact that sightings are increasing is telling us that Ohio's landscapes can now support these large carnivores and they can persist here, which is a very good sign of habitat quality and connectivity," she said. "I think it's a sign of ecological recovery. It is good news."
Black bears play an important role in maintaining healthy forest ecosystems, including seed dispersal, nutrient cycling and providing food from smaller animals for scavengers.
However, as their population grows, black bears will have more interactions with people — often related to food. Bears are drawn to an easy meal, so outreach and education about unsecured garbage, pet food outside or bird feeders can help reduce the risk of negative interactions for people living near bear habitats.
"Preventing conflict is cheaper, easier and a lot more effective than trying to mitigate stuff after it's happening," Gantchoff said.
Gantchoff's research team this summer includes doctoral student Tory Westall and research technician Trevor Martin, a senior environmental biology major from Fairborn, Ohio. They are fitting selected black bears, weighing more than 100 pounds and age 2 or older, with GPS collars that provide real-time data on their location, movement patterns and habitat selection.
They capture the bears using a humane culvert trap, which Gantchoff likened to a giant pipe with doors, baited with fruit-filled donuts or blueberry jelly. Once the trap closes, the team delivers an immobilization drug through holes in the pipe using a pole syringe — ignoring the conventional wisdom: "Don't poke the bear."
"We're literally poking the bear, yeah, with a needle," she said.
The immobilized bears are fitted with radio collars and then released at the capture site after the collection of physical data such as the bears' age, sex, hair samples and overall health.
The collars, which are designed to fall off after 1 ½-2 years, record position data every 90 minutes, allowing Gantchoff to monitor the bears as they travel across different landscapes and identify key resources such as vegetation, water and resting and den sites to determine their preferred recolonization habitats.
During the winter months, when black bears hibernate and give birth, Gantchoff will be able to track the bears to their dens for additional research.
"If there are babies, you can measure them, weigh them and see if they're OK," Gantchoff said. "You put a transponder chip — actually the same chip that you put in cats and dogs — on the back of their neck so if you find them later as adults you know who they are, so you can track their survival rates over time."
Martin's work on the project includes programming, deploying and monitoring motion-detection cameras in areas with frequent reports of bear activity. He also conducts daily checks of culvert traps and helps collect samples, records data and monitors the temperature, pulse and respiration rates of immobilized bears.
"As an undergraduate student with aspirations of becoming a career biologist, gaining relevant field experience is essential," Martin said. "This opportunity has allowed me to apply the knowledge I have gained in the classroom to real-world research, increasing both my confidence and competence as an ecologist and solidifying my goal of pursuing further education in wildlife biology. Dr. Gantchoff and Tory are exceptional mentors with a wealth of knowledge they generously share, helping prepare me for a future career as a wildlife biologist."
Top photo: An adult female black bear, weighing 198 lbs. and aged 5-10 years, that was captured this summer on private land with landowner permission and released unharmed on site.
Middle photo: (Left to right) Tory Westall, Mariela Gantchoff and Trevor Martin with the same bear while it was immobilized.