Conflicting bear population reports dominate International Drive hearing

A wildlife expert testifying on behalf of environmentalists told a court Thursday that the bear population in coastal regions was steadily growing, however there is no permanent population of them in the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve.

Biologist Joe Hamilton said the population has exploded in recent years throughout the state and Horry County, prompting wildlife officials to consider expanding hunting opportunities.

The testimony came as part of hearings before the South Carolina Administrative Law Court to determine whether the state properly issued permits that would lead to the construction of International Drive to link S.C. 90 with Carolina Forest. Those permits are being contested by environmental groups.

Hamilton said bears don’t actually call the preserve home, but commute along a habitat corridor stretching from North Carolina as far south as Charleston.

“We don’t have a Lewis Ocean Bay preserve bear population,” Hamilton said.

“The habitat conditions are poor, they have to move a lot to make a living,” the biologist said, referring to the creatures’ eating and mating habits.

The issue of population numbers is a key part of the case. Horry County and state officials involved in the permitting process say the number of bears in the area where the road will be built was significantly reduced after a disastrous wildfire in 2009, so bear tunnels are not needed.

Environmental groups don’t want the road built at all, but insist that if construction moves forward, bear tunnels and fencing should be constructed, the road should be limited to two lanes, and speed limits should be reduced.

The four-lane highway proposed by Horry County would cost $16.5 million, adding bear tunnels and fencing would boost the price another $3 million.

Although few bears inhabit the preserve, witnesses for the environmentalists told the court this week the area is part of their habitat corridor and should be protected, and pointed to the significant number of bears killed on nearby roads as evidence that International Drive would also be a threat.

Hamilton testified that building the 5-mile road without wildlife tunnels for the bears to commute through their habitat range would result in numerous bears being killed by passing vehicles and endanger the population.

“That seems to me to be an essential disconnect,” said Stan Barnett, the attorney for Horry County Public Works.

“The numbers are increasing in Horry County. That is in spite of the fact a good many keep getting killed on the highways,” Barnett said.

According to the state Department of Natural Resources, prior to the 2009 fire, 70 bears were killed on highways and some secondary roads bordering the preserve, primarily S.C. 90, S.C. 22 and S.C. 31. After the fire and through 2015, 11 bears were killed on those roads.

“If the numbers are increasing despite the fact there are roads all over the place and they’re being killed, DNR is going to allow more to be killed?” asked Barnett, referencing DNR’s approval of the roads without bear tunnels.

Hamilton conceded that the effectiveness rate of bears actually using wildlife tunnels was as low as 20 percent, but later testified he had read a study about panthers in Florida using tunnels 80 percent of the time.

Hamilton also testified that bear tunnels might not add protection for younger bears that are more likely to run across the road with “reckless abandon.”

“At least it gives bears a fighting chance,” Hamilton said of the tunnels.

Barnett asked whether taxpayers spending $3 million to save the life of one bear was worth it, but Hamilton evaded the question.

“I’m here to speak for the bears who can’t speak for themselves,” Hamilton said. “I’m not going to put the life of a bear on the stand and say it’s worth $3 million.”

Barnett questioned how Hamilton’s advocacy for increasing the number of bears hunted balanced with his view that $3 million should be spent to protect a handful of bears from being hit cars.

Hamilton testified that he would rather a bear be killed by a hunter and used, than hit by a car and tossed in a landfill.

More than 140 wildlife tags to hunt bears have been issued since 2011 for Horry County, and five bears in the last four years have been taken. None were successfully hunted in the preserve.

Wildlife officials are considering whether to allow open hunting season rather than by lottery, and to increase the number of bears permitted to be taken in order to control the growing population.

Barnett informed the court that even if the county constructed bear tunnels extending from the preserve, there is no guarantee that the property owners across the road would not block the tunnel.

“The owners are not obliged on private property to allow bears to pass through the tunnel onto their property,” Barnett said.

The court hearings were only scheduled to last three days through Thursday, but lawyers representing environmental groups did not rest their case until then, and Horry County and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control began their arguments late Thursday. The hearings are now scheduled to continue next week.

Bart Baca, a biologist who has worked on numerous Horry County development projects, was the first witness called for the public agencies and told the court that reducing the speed limit would be more effective than tunnels or fencing in protecting wildlife from passing cars.

“Some bears will not go through (tunnels), some don’t like it and it won’t work, it has to be fenced and therein lies the problem — it traps them on the road,” Baca said.

Alvin Taylor, director of the South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources, also testified Wednesday that if fencing was built alongside International Drive, it would inadvertently trap the animals on the highway where they could be struck by passing cars.

Instead, Taylor said his agency recommended that the speed limit be reduced on the International Drive to protect wildlife.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Conflicting bear population reports dominate International Drive hearing."