A
Bear of a Problem
One unforeseen problem with collecting field data at the Beaufort County site became apparent. Instrumentation of the field sites was completed during the summer of 1996. Soon after, in September 1996, a soil moisture probe was found mysteriously bent over from its upright position. Later, a couple of monitoring wells were broken off at ground level. The field recorders were next, and apparently became a favorite target for the attackers.
Tell-tale evidence, such as tracks, droppings, and claw marks, reveled
the identity of the culprits. The vandals turned out to be black bears,
rather common to the eastern coastal plain of North Carolina. During the
late fall and into winter, bears in this part of the state turn their attention
to affairs of the heart, as well as bulking up for the coming cold weather.
This increased period of activity has resulted in substantial damage to
field equipment.
The bears seem to particularly like destroying the recorders used to monitor water table and ditch water level fluctuations. Unfortunately, these are also some of the most expensive pieces of equipment to replace. Several attempts to protect the equipment, including pepper sprays and motion sensitive alarms, were unsuccessful. Bear activity became so heavy during the fall of 1997, the field recorders were all removed from the site for a period of about 1 month, to prevent loss of costly equipment and figure out a way to stop the damage.
When the field recorders were reinstalled, so were protective enclosures
of electrified barbed wire. The cost, labor, and maintenance requirements
of enclosing the entire site were deemed to high, so individual enclosures
were constructed around each recorder and sampling station. Underground
wire was used to connect all the enclosures so they could all be powered
by one fence charger. Since construction of the enclosures, none of the
field recorders have been damaged by bear activity.
Below are photos of some of the wildlife that can
be seen at the wetland restoration sites. The sites are home to a wide
array of fauna, including deer, bears, turkeys, raccoons, rabbits, waterfowl,
frogs, and of course snakes. There is an obvious bias in the number of
snake pictures, primarily because they tend to stay in one place while
you go get your camera.
 |
 |
 |
 |