N.J. approves bear hunt, first since 2005

New Jersey will hold its first bear hunt in five years under a plan approved today by Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin.

The hunt is included with nonlethal measures in a management plan to deal with what the DEP said is an overpopulation of black bears and the problems they are causing, particularly in the northern parts of the state.

"It is clear that a historical rise in public complaints regarding black bears is correlated with the growing bear population," Martin said in a statement. "This public safety issue cannot be ignored."

The State Fish and Game Council unanimously recommended the management plant.

"Although I respect that some New Jersey residents are opposed to hunting bears, hunting is the only proven and most cost-effective method of wildlife population control and it is utilized successfully by other states with viable bear populations," Martin said.

The New Jersey Sierra Club, which has long opposed a bear hunt, blasted the management plan because there is no funding for nonlethal programs, including education and garbage control.

"This is barely a plan, it's just a hunt," Jeff Tittel, the group's director, said in a statement.

The club said the hunt was politically motivated and was aimed at satisfying a promise Gov. Christie gave to Republican voters in Sussex County when he ran for office last year.

The DEP said the bear population in northwestern New Jersey has grown from 500 bears in 1992 to more than 3,400 bears today.

Bears also have been sighted in all 21 counties.

The agency said the black bear hunt would coincide with the six-day firearm deer hunting season in December and be limited to a 1,000 square-mile area north of Route 80 in Morris, Sussex, Warren and Passaic counties.

The Division of Fish and Wildlife will establish rules for the hunt in the coming weeks.

The Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy can be found at: http://bit.ly/baLy7I