This year(2013) Resource Managers in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska fear that too many female Brown(Grizzly) Bears have been killed by hunters and car collisions............With Grizzlies being slow reproducers of cubs, the 22 female brown bears(33 percent of the 66 Bears killed) are more than double previously established female kill limits..............Adult Female Bears hold the key to long term perpetuation of the species,,,,,,the primary driver of brown bear population dynamics" said refuge supervisory wildlife biologist John Morton.......... "Losing so many adult female bears will have immediate negative impacts on this population"

Agency halts grizzly 

hunts in Kenai refuge

lubbockonline.com

By DAN JOLING

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Sport hunting of grizzly bears
 ended Saturday
 in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge because too many
 bears have
been killed this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
 announced Friday.

The emergency closure took effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday
 on the nearly
3,125-square mile refuge that takes up much of the
 northern and central
 areas of the peninsula south of Anchorage, the agency said.

More than 10 percent of Kenai Peninsula grizzlies were
 killed this year,
 the agency said.

Grizzly deaths by humans on the Kenai have reached at least
 66 bears, the agency said. Hunters killed at least 43 brown
bears in spring and summer hunting seasons. Another 23 were
killed by people defending property or their lives, by illegal
hunting, by vehicles or by the agency destroying problem
bears, the agency said.

The bears on the Kenai and other Alaska coastal regions
rich with salmon are referred to as brown bears to distinguish
them from smaller interior and northern Alaska grizzlies.

The entire population on the peninsula was 624, according to
the best estimate available, said refuge manager Andy
 Loranger.

"This level of mortality is not scientifically sustainable,"
Loranger said.

A state wildlife official said he was disappointed by the
decision.

"The current harvest of bears this year is not unexpected
and does not represent a viability concern," Doug
Vincent-Lang, director of the Alaska Division of Wildlife
Conservation, said in a statement. "Once again, we are
 faced with overreach by the federal government into the
management of Alaska's wildlife."

The seven-member citizen state Game Board, which sets
 bag limits and seasons for game animals, has taken an
aggressive stand to expand human consumption of
 moose and caribou by killing wolves, black bears and grizzly bears.

Grizzlies are slow to reproduce.

The federal agency said at least 22 female brown bears,
or 33 percent of the known mortalities, were killed in 2013,
more than double previously established limits.

"Survivorship of adult female bears has been shown to be
 the primary driver of brown bear population dynamics,"
said refuge supervisory wildlife biologist John Morton
in the announcement. "Losing so many adult female
 bears will have immediate negative impacts on this
 population."

Actual bear deaths by humans are higher than the documented numbers, he said, and must be considered when setting harvest levels.

The emergency closure lasts for 30 days. Public hearings likely will be scheduled before more permanent measures are put in place, Morton said.