As Governor Phil Murphy moves forward with a bear hunting ban on state land in 2018, elected officials in northwest New Jersey's "bear country" voice opposition.

Murphy's 2018 ban is set to keep bear hunters off all state wildlife management areas, parks, forests and natural areas. The move closes off many tracts of several thousand acres, including massive swaths of North Jersey.

The move, some of the region's elected officials say, is shortsighted.

“Already the most densely populated state, New Jersey also has the densest bear population in North America,” said state Republican Assemblyman Hal Wirths of Morris, Sussex and Warren counties. “They wander out of the woods and into neighborhoods in search of food and shelter.”

Wirths, Assemblyman Parker Space and state Senator Steven Oroho recently denounced Murphy’s plan, saying it could increase the likelihood of negative human-bear encounters.

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NJ's bear country

All three represent the state’s extreme northwest, where most of New Jersey’s black bears were harvested last year. In that region lies one of the densest and most productive black bear populations in the country resides, according to state Division of Fish and Wildlife records.

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Oroho said when the bear hunt was cancelled in 2006, sightings in certain neighborhoods became daily recurrences and people were rightly afraid to go outside.

“This issue is and always will be a serious matter of public safety,” Oroho said. “It is ironic that when a bear is sighted in urban settings, schools get locked down and multiple police departments respond to tranquilize the bear before relocating it. If safety isn’t an issue what’s the reason for concern?”

State estimates place the number of black bears in northern New Jersey at roughly 3,500. About as many bears have been killed by hunters during the last eight years. Still, state reports warn the population could double within five years if bear hunting is banned outright.

Michael Inganamort, a councilman in the Morris County community of Chester, said he fears such growth will not only lead to more human-bear interactions but also an imbalanced and less healthy bear population.

"A controlled, regulated hunt is an important tool to ensure the bear population in New Jersey remains healthy, for their sake and residents'," he said.

An outright ban?

Doris Lin, the staff attorney for Animal Protection League of New Jersey, said during a recent online forum that the governor is essentially using his executive order to control hunting as a landowner. However, Lin said she believes Murphy could cancel New Jersey’s bear hunt in its entirety this year by issuing a broader executive order. The governor’s office has disputed Lin's interpretation.

North Jersey bear hunts have been cancelled by the state’s Fish and Game Council in 2000 and the Department of Environmental Protection commissioner in 2006. Court decisions have also complicated the push for annual hunts.

The Animal Protection League of New Jersey has been involved in court challenges in the past and is currently involved with a pending lawsuit questioning the hunt's legality, said Janine Motta, the league's programs director.

Studies have shown black bear populations self-regulate based on environment, Motta said. Containing food sources and teaching people how to live in bear country are better solutions than actively cutting the numbers, she said.

"People will learn, just as bears learn the places where food is left out," she said. "Even a partial hunt ... will do nothing to relieve the conflicts that do arise between humans and bears if the residents still don't know how to behave with the 50 remaining bears in the area."

Local opposition

Citing human-bear conflicts, officials in West Milford agreed this week to draft a resolution in opposition to the governor’s hunting ban on state land.

“We’ve already had someone mauled in our town and I definitely don’t want to see any more bloodshed,” said Lou Signorino, town councilman. “I have four kids and I’m not saying anything is going to happen, but the more bears there are, the more likely it is that something is going to happen.”

Upper Passaic County has vast stretches of state-preserved bear habitat that surround dense lake communities.

West Milford alone harbors the 2,001-acre Abram S. Hewitt State Forest near Upper Greenwood Lake, the 1,325-acre Bearfort Mountain Natural Area near Pinecliff Lake and portions of the 6,911-acre Long Pond Ironworks State Park near Greenwood Lake, the 35,524-acre Wawayanda State Park near Lake Lookover and the 5,416-acre Norvin Green State Forest near Lindy’s Lake and Gordon Lakes.

West Milford Councilwoman Andrena Pegel said the town is bear habitat. As such, the focus should be on co-existence.

“It’s also about educating people on what to do in a situation,” she said. “They’re God’s creatures just like we are, and they do deserve to be here.”

Still, Tim Wagner, West Milford’s acting mayor, said he is firmly against the governor’s decision. Removing a critical component of the state’s bear management plan in the state preserves could be dangerous, he said.

“We have seen firsthand that the bear hunt works to manage the population,” he said.

Hunting plans

The Department of Environmental Protection is expected to offer up to 11,000 bear hunting permits for the state’s northwest.

The number of permits is the same as last year, though the lack of access to state lands may lower permit sales. Motta, however, said she believes no fewer bears will be killed.

"It's certainly not satisfactory," she said.

The five hunting zones are also expected to remain the same, minus the state-owned blackout areas. The zones encompass eight counties, four of which accounted for just four kills during the 2017 season. Most of the harvest takes place in Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties; north of Interstate 80 and west of Interstate 287.

Hunting is expected to remain legal on federal, county, municipal and private lands in 2018. The first, six-day segment of this year's bear hunt starts Oct. 8. A second segment for shotgun-wielding hunters is set to begin Dec. 3. Hunters can harvest one bear during each of the two segments.

To safeguard the public and enforce hunting laws, the state Department of Environmental Protection recently announced plans to add Division of Fish and Wildlife conservation officers. Nonlethal management tactics, including more education for the region’s law enforcement on managing bear interactions and helping towns manage food waste, are also planned.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said the department's announcement clouds the fact that the state plans to issue the same number of hunting permits this year. The region needs warning signs, educational materials at trail heads, better enforcement of laws against feeding bears and better garbage management, not a hunt, he said.

“We need to address human-bear interactions by dealing with habitat management and garbage control,” Tittel said. “Without a real management plan, bears will change from a nuisance bear to an aggressive bear and will be put down.”