[pct-l] Testing of Bear Cannisters / URSACK

[Matt Thyer]

Ken,

Wish I could have been there myself, I'm sure that the test procedures would
have kept me interested.  I read the legal documentation of at least one
suit between Ursack and SIBBG.  There's some very interesting information in
there that I'm guessing most hikers aren't aware of.  I've also been finding
plenty of documentation which indicates that bear countermeasures are little
more than "paper seatbelts" -- if the bear has been habituated or is
motivated all of these are little more than a wet paper seatbelt.

I liked the idea of an active bear repellent (mothballs?) that was floated
on the list earlier.  The problem, I'd guess, is one that the military has
been faced with since they started trying to manufacture a crowd control
agent -- it may not affect everyone the same way.  For instance, I've walked
through billowing clouds of CS gas with little to no effect (my eyes watered
pretty badly), the guy next to me in the CS chamber was puking his guts out.

It is too bad that there's no more testing.  A national Underwriters
Laboratories project might be in order, they'd publish an engineering
standard too.

Matt


----- Original Message ----
From: Ken Murray <kmurray at pol.net>
To: . <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Tue, April 27, 2010 11:20:56 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Testing of Bear Cannisters

Matt, it is a shame that you were not at the KO.

Two of the attendees were Tori Seher, chief bear biologist at Yosemite, and
Calder Reid, Wilderness Manager on the Inyo Nat Forest.

As you may know, the Sierra Interagency Black Bear Group (SIBBG) was the
entity that for the last ten years, had been responsible for recommending
products to the Agencies, and carried out the testing of these products.

As far as I know, either Tori or Calder has been the chair of the SIBBG, and
both have been two of the 5 or so members since inception.   So.....these
are the experts on the situation!

Because of multiple lawsuits by Ursack, that have crippled the ability of
SIBBG to perform testing, they no longer do.  In fact, nobody does, so there
is no mechanism currently for a product to get approved by an Agency, so all
we have are the products that are out there.

At the presentation that these two gave on fire and bears, Tori went through
the exact way that the testing was done, process by process.  I think most
people were impressed by the comprehensiveness and objectivity.

Hey, some of these presenters really know what they are talking about, and
in their case, were around all day friday and saturday to answer any
questions about anything.

Another benefit of the KO.