I recently watched two programs, one about the wetlands of south central Nebraska, which have dwindled to about ten percent of what they were, that are the stop off and resting areas for many of the migrating shorebirds, wading birds, songbirds and especially waterfowl of the Central Flyway. As a result of this loss of habitat, some of the birds aren't getting enough forage to make the trip north, or to live long on their summer range. Some are starving right there in Nebraska. Some are dying due to the spread of infectious diseases such as avian cholera, because they are concentrated in such as small area.

Habitat, whether it is winter habitat in South America, resting spots in Central America or the southern United States, or summer breeding habitat in the United States, Canada and the Arctic, is important to migrating birds. Saving, protecting, preserving, conserving one of those components, without the other components of the entire range of migrating birds, is not enough to save the birds. In fact it is often futile. Wake up people – we all need to think about conservation – of wildlife habitat – or we will loose many of the animals we love to enjoy watching.

The other TV program was about how the loss of salmon due to overfishing, and the blockage of salmon streams for dams, has impacted the birds, animals, plants and forests often surrounding watersheds. How do decreasing numbers of salmon affect an entire eco-system or watershed you might ask. It all comes back to where I started, because it affects the bears and the birds. Or they affect it.

If the salmon run is reduced, through over fishing by commercial fisherman, or due to the fish being poisoned by pesticides, insecticides or fertilizers that run off into the ocean. Or the fish die from toxice waste and garbage emptied into the ocean, or because a river or stream is damned so that the fish cannot reach their spawning grounds, the reduction in fish results in the streams and rivers - bears, foxes and other predators, eagles and seagulls, eat less fish. The nutrients in the fish are spread throughout the eco-system by the bears and birds as they leave droppings behind. These droppings in turn fertilize the plants of the eco-system, which in turn are eaten and utilized by the birds, fish and animals, and smaller insects, invertebrates and mollusks, that are in turn eaten by the larger animals, including the seagulls, eagles and bears.

If there is a reduction in the salmon run, then the fertilizer of the plants, in the form of the nutrients of the salmon, left behind as bear droppings, is missing from the eco-system, and it is not as healthy as it should be.

Interestingly, Dr. Lynn Rogers, who conducts bear research here in Minnesota, conducted a study to determine if and how bears contribute to the dispersal and growth of plants, especially fruit bearing plants, which contributes to the overall health of the eco-systems they live in. What he discovered was that bears may carry mast crops such as hazel nuts and acorns, and the seeds of plum, cherry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, bearberry, serviceberry etc, with them as they travel up to 20 miles per day.

Seeds eaten by bears often have a higher germination rate than seeds dropped on the ground, because the bruising on the seeds from being eaten, and the acid in the stomach of the bears helps them to germinate. These seeds may germinate at a rate of 20 to 93 percent. The study concluded that for very large seeds, such as the fruits of plums and cherries, black bears may be one of only a few long-distance dispersal agents, just as brown bears are dispersal agents of the nutrients of salmon flesh and skin, through the droppings they leave behind, which may be miles from the river or stream where the fish were caught and eaten.

This shows us that the research of people like Dr. Lynn Rogers, on bears, in the manner that he conducts it, can be important for understanding the interrelationship of the plants and animals of an eco-system. It is also important for eco-system management and conservation as a whole. If he can continue his studies, without the loss of another bear to hunters, who knows what other important findings he can discover?