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October 2008

Vol. 13, No. 40 Week of October 05, 2008

Watching for polar bears on North Slope

Shrinking ice may cause more bears to move onshore; specialists handle encounters and survey for den locations ahead of work

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species has focused world attention on this spectacular Arctic animal. But to what extent is the shrinking area of Arctic Sea ice changing the animal’s habits and what steps can be taken to avoid bear disturbance?

At the Sept. 17 meeting of the Alaska Association of Environmental Professionals, Diane Sanzone, a senior environmental scientist with BP in Alaska, reviewed data that BP has gathered about polar bear sightings on Alaska’s North Slope. Sanzone also described the measures that BP adopts for dealing with encounters between polar bears and industrial activities on the Slope.

Satellite data gathered since 1979 from the Arctic has shown a major decline in the minimum summer surface area of the sea ice that forms primary habitat for the polar bear population. That would tend to lead to an expectation that an increasing number of bears would be seen on land on the North Slope. But is that happening?

Trend unclear

Data for polar bear sightings and bear hazing events at BP facilities on the Slope do not indicate any particular trend in recent years, Sanzone said. In fact during 2006, when the extent of sea ice was relatively high, observers reported a lower-than-normal number of sightings. (Hazing refers to a set of approved actions to safely chase wildlife away from human activities.)

But Sanzone emphasized that the analysis of the bear sighting data was preliminary in nature and that it is difficult to correct the data to allow for factors such as the varying number of people at the facilities and variations in people’s awareness levels regarding bear observation.

In the past three years, polar bear sightings have increased during the summer period of June 30 to Aug. 31, with no sightings or hazings in 2006; 30 sightings and six hazing events in 2007; and 42 sightings in 2008 (the sighting data for 2008 has not yet been confirmed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Additionally, a study by the U.S. Geological Survey has suggested a trend toward more bears building their dens on land. USGS used radio collars on bears to track bear den locations and mapped these locations for various time periods.

“You can clearly see a trend towards land,” Sanzone said.

Information and training

Given that polar bears do appear on land on the North Slope to a certain extent, what does a company like BP do to avoid impacting the bear population?

In the first place, the company provides information and training for its personnel and contractors, Sanzone said. For example, BP has produced a guide to the various North Slope animals, with information about what to do in the event of an animal encounter, she said. The relevant regulatory agencies have reviewed the guide, which contains material such as contact telephone numbers and reporting forms.

The company also schedules talks about wildlife and distributes posters highlighting important factors such as the need to report bear encounters.

As part of the wildlife training for BP employees and contractors working on the North Slope, BP provides bear hazing training for environmental and security personnel — no one is allowed to haze a bear without appropriate training, Sanzone said.

Work on the North Slope is done under the terms of letters of authorization from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the incidental disturbance of wildlife such as polar bears. BP notifies North Slope project managers of their responsibilities with regard to polar bears and any BP project on the North Slope requires a polar bear interaction plan, Sanzone said.

Activity ceased

If a polar bear is sighted during any activity, the activity is ceased immediately, Sanzone said. Personnel involved in the activity notify BP security and environmental advisers, who decide whether the bear needs to be hazed. The environmental advisers have to notify Fish and Wildlife of any sighting or hazing incident within 24 hours, Sanzone said.

It is particularly important not to disturb mother bears and cubs while the mothers and their offspring are in winter dens.

“Only females with cubs den,” Sanzone said. “They den up in about mid-November. They emerge from their dens anywhere from late February to mid-April. … Female bears and cubs cannot be hazed away from den sites. So you have to do something to make sure that you’re not operating near a polar bear den.”

In fact, no activities are allowed within one mile of a bear den, Sanzone said.

To avoid operating within that one mile limit, BP conducts a survey for bear dens prior to any North Slope activity such as a seismic survey or ice road construction. The survey covers the area where the activity will take place plus a one mile buffer zone.

As a first pass at the survey, specialists use maps to identify habitat where dens might occur. Though polar bears on the North Slope always appear to den in snow, the construction of a den requires some physical relief and is not done on a flat surface.

Bears often den on the banks of rivers or lakes, or on coastal bluffs, Sanzone said. In fact, polar bears have been known to den at abandoned drilling pads, and there has been one instance of a den found at an old weather observation site, she said.

Infrared sensing

Once potential bear den habitat has been mapped, BP flies an aircraft around a route that traverses possible den locations. An infrared remote sensor mounted on the aircraft enables observers to spot the warmth from bears occupying dens.

“One of things that BP has been doing for the last number of years in cooperation with USGS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is using forward-looking infrared,” Sanzone said.

The flights typically occur in the dark during clear winter weather — one of the survey pilots has described the operation as “looking for small light bulbs in the snow,” Sanzone said.

Although the surveys cannot guarantee to find every bear den, it is very unusual to encounter a den unexpectedly once a project on the ground has started — there just aren’t particularly many bear dens out there. But if a den were to be encountered during an operation such as ice road construction, all activities have to cease immediately, Sanzone said.

At that point the BP environmental studies team would work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to decide on an appropriate action. Actions could involve relocating the operation or stopping the operation altogether.

“It’s really project dependent,” Sanzone said.

Though the aerial infrared surveys have proved successful in predetermining where dens are located, BP is funding some research into the relative effectiveness of other detection techniques, such as the use of handheld infrared detectors on the ground.

“We’re funding a study for early winter where we’re actually going to go out and compare these techniques,” Sanzone said.

Other potential future refinements include the use of improved physical relief maps derived from aerial remote sensing, to identify possible polar bear den habitat.






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