(WWJ) – Michigan’s bear population is on the rise, an official with the Department of Natural Resources told state lawmakers on Thursday.
Cody Norton, a large carnivore specialist for the DNR, told the House Natural Resources Committee that the bear population has been climbing since officials introduced a significant reduction of bear hunting licenses in 2012.
The majority of the state’s bear population is spread across the Upper Peninsula, Norton said. There were about 9,700 bears in the U.P. in 2020.
That was an increase of about 13% and a nearly 20% increase since 1992, Norton said.
While the abundance is less, Norton said the increase has been more "drastic" in the northern Lower Peninsula. That 2,700 is about 88% higher than it was in 2012, and about 300% higher than in 1992.
For comparison, Norton says there’s about one bear for every two square miles in the U.P. and one bear for every seven square miles in the northern Lower Peninsula.
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