Randy Senock

Website under construction

Bear Hunters

By Ricky Hayes- public relations intern

The victim had no chance against such a beast. It had bitten an enormous chunk out of its prey. Of course an action packer has no idea that it’s being bitten by bear’s curious mouth.

Randy Senock was working on weather stations located in the Sierra and Modoc Regions, in the foothills outside of Chico, Calif. His action packer, which is a plastic tub that holds power supplies for the weather stations in the Ecological Reserve, had a section bitten off by a bear.

Senock said that this event sparked a curiosity for him, and he began a new study focusing on bears. So far his students have been able to take pictures of the bears to estimate population size, trace lineages of how bear families evolve, collect DNA samples, and map out bear trails.

For 30 years Senock has been in the field of wildlife biology, forestry, and other areas of environmental sciences. His previous position was at the University of Hawaii studying tropical forestry.

Senock said the reason he came to Chico State was he chance to work in a department with much more integration. The Center for Ecosystem Research (CER) is going to be a good step forward in including others into “our areas of study.”

If a student is looking to be passionate about something, Senock said. “CER will have a role in the student finding that passion.”

Senock said his goal for the immediate future is to integrate real-time cameras into student activities. This would allow live broadcasting of what is happening with the bears in the foothills. Senock and his team of bear hunters were waiting for test results on DNA samples and other data to be concluded.

However, having live cameras only gives researchers pieces of the puzzle of bear activities, and how growing urbanization of Chico affects the lives of these creatures.

Senock said this is one of the negative stereotypes about scientists. Scientists are trying to put pieces together to complete the “big picture.” He said people need to remember scientists cannot explain everything that happens.