Show Outdoors Fitness & Fun Standard-Examin- er A I I W Comics Advice TV listings Features Editor: 625-42- Thursday Jufy 30 1 993 70 Bears want but don’t need help may come as a surprise to of the good urban folk along the Wasatch but there are black bears in Utah scarcely a stone's throw away They're rarely seen because it is the nature of a bear to shy away from human beings and human actiMty But a bear is a smart animal If it discovers an easy reliable source of food it will return to it time and again That's OK if it’s a particularly fertile berry patch but it's a death warrant for the bear if that food source happens to be at a public This campground The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources had to kill a black bear earlier this summer near Smith-Morehou- Reservoir m the se Uinta Mountains The bear had to be killed because it was hanging around the Ledgcfork campground too much The bear was hanging around the campground too much because people had been feeding it I don't know what it is about bears but people just don’t show them the proper respect Too many stuffed teddy bears too many dumb kids' TV' shows too many messages that bears are at their core cute little cuddly woodland creatures It probably started with that rotten little juvenile delinquent Goldilocks But bears are not cuddly Black bears do not have the ferocious and unpredictable reputation of their CLOSE EMSif&R: In keeping with the tradition of many wild animal parks Yellowstone Bear World allows tourists to drive within a few yards of is about 20 minutes north of Idaho Falls cousin the grizzly bear but they can cause dreadful damage to a human being Most bear attacks in the United States actually involve black bears because they’re seen as less of a threat than the grizzly I do not know why Two hundred pounds of black bear makes for a formidable opponent There have been instances in Utah of bears attacking campers including one es pea ally frightening case where a bear pulled a young girl from her sleeping bag inside a camper shell in the Uintah Basin The girl wound up being rescued by her grandfather who beat the bear with a large flashlight until it released her But it was too close of a call Wildlife officers suspect someone had fed the bear earlier at the same campsite and when it returned for more it deaded a little girl was just as good as a couple of overcooked hot dogs If you feed a black bear you are not helping it You are not sharing a unique moment in time with one of nature's most fascinating creatures You are killing it It’s that simple Bears that become used to human beings are bears that aren't afraid of human beings and that fear is the best defense a bear has You don't even have to feed it directly - bears have no qualms about raiding a cooler or a bag of ‘ Smith-Morehou- se scraps ' ' Actually it’s more than advice -it's an order issued by the forest supervisor A atation for violating the order could cost up to 55000 - Don't feed the bears Jim B'ngi writes about the outdoon He can be for the Stamhmi-Exami6 mk hed at 625-426- 200-poun- bears separated cf d Idaho attraction features trained bears so far but owners hope to create a wildlife park PUmrOSEE: (Right) Visitors to Bear World can see many types of bears including this female Kodiak By JIM WRIGHT (Below) Bears aren't the park's only animals Elk Eke this one pits SundarWExamner staff R EXBURG Idaho -The brochure for Y'ellowstone Bear World proclaims “You Can't Miss It” The brochure is right Just off the west side of US 20 about 20 minutes north of Idaho Falls stands Idaho’s newest ducks geese turkeys peacocks swans nver otters reindeer and fallow deer roam the grounds The roadside attraction owners also plan a petting zoo There’s a massive gateway constructed of thick pine logs surrounded by a tall fence made of wood and heavy-gaug- e wire Statues of black bears flank the entrance In plain view of the highway massive bull elk wander inside the fences mingling with peacocks and wild turkeys Signs promise the opportunity to drive through a concentration of bears you’re not likely to see in the nation's oldest national park You can't miss it Yellowstone Bear World is the brainchild of Mike and Valenc Ferguson a Rexburg couple who have raised domesticated elk for years This year they decided to expand their menagene m a big way with the acquisition of 150 acres of w ooded land and nearly garbage Numerous state and federal wildlife biologists have told me that of all of the tasks they must perform killing a campground bear is one of the most distasteful because it's the moct unnecessary When humans do something stupid it's usually the animal that suffers So what to do? t There have been a number of bears sighted along the western end of the Uinta Mountains around Reservoir and along the Provo River drainage around the Mirror Lake Highway The Forest Service and the DWR are working with campers to make sure they're aware of the threat of bears and are keeping their campsites dean The campgrounds along the Provo River - Pine Valley Lower Provo Shingle Creek Taylor’s Fork Beaver Creek and Yellow Pine - lack bcarproof garbage bins so rangers are advising campers to lock food and garbage inside their vehides at night and to keep camp areas dean of food 1 course by electrical fences The park two dozen bears to put on public display on the road to Y el low stone The Fergusons sav that for the price of an admission ticket (S8 50 for adults $5 50 for children) they’re giving visitors a chance to relive one of the bygone pleasures of Y'ellowstone National Park the “bear jams" that used to back up traffic for hours while tourists took snapshots and bears begged for handouts “Mike and bears and the Y I got to talking about w ay it used to be at ellowstone where the bears used to come right up to the cars and how fun that was" Yalene said “Our kids don't have those memories" The park opened June 5 and attracted 6000 visitors m its first month she said The couple worked quickly - they purchased the land on April and had the fences landscaping and other preliminary work completed within two months 1 1 Trouble wtth permits It you go Yellowstone Bear World is about 20 miles northeast of Idaho Falls on U S Highway 20 about haltway between Rigby and Rexburg It s open from 9 am to 7 p m until Oct 15 Admission is $8 50 for adults $7 50 for seniors and $5 50 for children 2 Children age 5 and under are admitted free For more information call (208) 359-968- 8 As it turns out the Fergusons may have worked too quickly They've had difficulties obtaining the permits from the state See BEAR 30 Rock climbing improves strength but not overall fitness By IRA DREYFUSS The Assooated Press to increase your fitness climbing would be an battle on specialized indoor equipment that allows kmg climbs climbing is not as effective as treadmill running according to a new study Climbers instead do more of a sprint -short power bursts followed by rest “If they sustain the climb for long enough they are able to sustain an aerobic training effect but sustaining that energy output might be difficult" said Phillip B Watts a professor of exercise physiology at Northern Michigan University Marquette' Watts examined two measures of aerobic output - how fast the heart beats and how much oxygen the Trying exerciser uses In the experiment 16 experienced climbers with an average age of 26 worked out on an indoor climbing wall that worked like a treadmill conunuously moving as the subject climbed Climbers did five climbs interspersed with rests They climbed at wall angles ranging from nearly vertical to slightly overhanging For comparison the exercisers did treadmill runs over the same time periods at a heart rale equal to what they did when the wall was nearly vertical The results were published in the w American College of Sports Medicine journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise four-minu- te te ' At the same heart rate oxygen use was greater for running than climbing the study found So climbers who judge aerobic energy use by their heart rate may be misled Watts said If they want to climb as hard as they run they would have to raise their target heart rate by five to 10 beats per minute The idea that rock dimbing doesn't require a lot of endurance did not surprise Dave Pcgg a climber and senior associate editor of Climbing magazine Carbondale Colo “Rock dimbing is very he said “You spend a lot of tunc sitting on a belay" Pcgg said he doesn't get the same stop-start- feeling from rock climbing that he does from running However rock climbers look fit They carry little body fat A separate study focusing on elite climbers found the competitors “very lightweight small people" Watts said Men had only 5 percent body fat and women averaged 8 percent or 9 percent -“very low for females" Watts said The leanness of dimbers may be confusing said Dale Goddard of Salt Lake City of “Performance Rock Climbing" considered one of the sport's basic texts The climbers’ leanness is not necessarily from endurance but because the sport favors the thin and ! muscular Goddard said Anything not muscle or bone is waste weight that has to be earned up the dtmbing wall “Most people when they are dimbing feel it is because it is very demanding of upper-bodstrength" Goddard said “We are not used to supporting our weight on our arms and fingers" strength-oriente- d y I A |