Longtime DNR bear researcher retires

Karen Noyce has collared her last black bear.

As one of the Department of Natural Resources' leading bear researchers, Noyce tranquilized, studied and fitted 800 bears with radio collars. She retired from the DNR on Tuesday after 33 years.

For most of her career, Noyce worked with DNR bear project leader Dave Garshelis, studying black bear populations in the Chippewa National Forest, near Grand Rapids. Their research filled a distinct knowledge gap in Minnesota.

Back in 1981, Noyce was one of the first researchers hired on to the DNR's bear project. At the time, no one knew how many bears lived in the state, where they went or what they ate. None of the three researchers in the fledgling program had ever collared a bear before.

Noyce remembers her first bear interaction on the job. Some local conservation officers caught a hefty black bear in a barrel trap and brought him to the research team for practice.

"We had a tranquilizer needle at the end of a stick," she said. "We had some recommendations, but we didn't really know if it would work."

Noyce started her career researching foxes for a master's degree in biology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Foxes aren't terribly intimidating animals, so a bear in a barrel was a bit of a shock.

"It was very exciting," she said.

The bear went out like a light, and woke up later with a radio collar around his neck. Over the years, Noyce went on collaring bears and tracking their movements by foot and by plane.

She and the rest of the bear project team visited dens and counted cubs. They analyzed the teeth of bears killed during the hunting season. Eventually, they were even able to calculate a bear population estimate for the first time ever in Minnesota, roughly 20,000.

"Bears are hard to keep track of," she said. "They cover a lot of ground."

Looking back on her career, Noyce says bears are smarter than she ever expected.

"I knew bears were smart and curious," she said, "but over the past 30 years, I really saw what distinct personality traits they each have."

Noyce, now 60, looks forward to spending more time with her 5-year-old grandchild, and just walking through the woods without always looking for bears.