Column: Bear population is right where it needs to be

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 31, 2026

For a brief period, there were efforts to increase hunting opportunities with the goal of increasing the bear harvest. Opposition was strong enough to quell them, and we have since learned that was not necessarily a bad thing. Thanks to our Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and its careful stewardship of a public resource, our bear population is right about where it should be. Let’s hope the agency, and we hunters, can keep it that way by preserving the measures in place to do so. ~ Bob Humphrey