Guest opinion: Berries are for bears
Whitefish Pilot | UPDATED 2 weeks, 6 days AGO
The huckleberry is a key food source for Glacier Park bears.
Apparently, this is a terrible year for huckleberries. I read today that professional berry pickers are getting around 10% of their average crop.
The critical factor is that bears and other wild animals are also only getting 10% of their berries. We can live with out huckleberries, wild animals can not.
Huckleberries can’t be grown commercially, so every berry a human eats is wildlife food. We’ve stolen their habitat and are now stealing a main food source.
Look at the huge displays of huckleberry jam in stores, the plethora of huckleberry products sold in gift stores. This is unsustainable and harmful on every level to wild animals.
The solution is clear. We must prohibit commercial picking of huckleberries everywhere, now.
Humans can get other food sources, we do not need to profit from stealing a critical food source from our beautiful, struggling wildlife.
— Jerri Swenson and Roy Jacobs, Kalispell