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THURSDAY. DECEMBER 2. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Bears
GDNR’s Wildlife Division
has sporadically collared and
tracked black bears, Ham
mond said, but in 2019 they
launched a more significant
effort to monitor the bear
population - which includes
monitoring their den usage.
What they’ve found is that
around 90 percent of collared
females - due to their repro
ductive cycle and needing a
place to give birth and care
for cubs - will spend signifi
cant periods of time in dens.
Hammond said only younger
females were found not to
den. This overwhelming 90-
percent figure is compared to
approximately 40 percent of
the collared male bears they
found spend time in dens,
with denning patterns highly
dependent on food availabil
ity, health of the bear, and
temperature (which impacts
food supply and metabo
lism).
What is hibernation?
The way a black bear hi
bernates is different than the
way a rodent or bat - which-
many consider to be “true hi-
bemators” - do.
According to
BearWise.org - a multi-state
bear education effort created
by bear biologists from all
over the southeastern U.S. -
squirrels, bats, rodents, mar
mots, and other “true hiber-
nators” enter a state “close to
suspended animation where
body temperatures fall close
to freezing and metabolisms
slow almost to a halt.” A
bear’s metabolism, heartbeat,
and respiration rate does drop
dramatically, “but its body
temperature only drops about
12 degrees during hiberna
tion. They don’t eat at all, nor
do they go to the bathroom;
bears’ dens are remarkably
clean and odor-free ... unlike
true hibemators who wake up
every few days to drink, go to
the bathroom and nibble
some stored food before
going back to sleep.”
During their hibernation
period, bears bum thousands
of calories a day and heal
themselves in the process.
They also don’t lose bone or
muscle mass during this time
-just fat. Despite the fact that
they can hibernate for longer
periods of time than “true hi
bemators,” bears can wake
easily while in this state.
Why the need to hibernate?
Why bears hibernate is
predominately an issue of
food supply, not an issue of
the bear being cold (although
temperature does have some
impact on metabolism during
this time). And, again, in the
case of females, there is the
need for a place to give birth
to and raise cubs.
When winter arrives and
food is in shorter supply
black bears den up and live
off their fat reserves. Here in
north Georgia, Hammond
says bears will enter their
dens anywhere between mid-
November to as late as Janu
ary, then emerge sometime
around April or May of the
following year.
“But there is a lot of vari
ability in that,” Hammond
said of how long bears will
stay in their den at a time, and
when they initially enter and
emerge. “Some of the col
lared bears did lock down for
the whole winter, then some
would have movement
slowed in the winter and they
would stay in a den a few
weeks, then move to another
area and stay there a while,
then come back. A lot of it is
tied to food and health and
temperature.”
Up north where winters
are colder and longer and
food is in shorter supply dur
ing those winter months,
black bears will den longer
than in more temperate cli
mates like north Georgia.
Bears farther south may den
less time than they do in this
region.
“Bears may den for much
shorter periods of time and
sleep less deeply if food (nat
ural or human-provided) is
available all year,” BearWise
reports. “In sub-tropical
Florida only pregnant fe
males den up for the short
winter; other bears may turn
in for just a week or two or
not at all.”
Black bears spend fall fat
tening themselves up for the
winter, with their favorite
menu item in these parts
being the high-starch, high-
fat oak acorns, which Ham
mond said is their main food
source. BearWise notes that
in the fall black bears will
spend 20 hours a day eating,
and put on 100 pounds in a
few short weeks. The process
is called hyperphagia.
“During spring and sum
mer, bears eat around 5,000
calories a day, but in the fall,
they are trying to eat up to
20,000 calories every day. In
the Southeast when acorns
are plentiful on trees, bears
gorge on the energy-packed
nuts.... A pound of acorns
has about 2,100 calories; a
pound of blueberries, just
256 calories.”
If bears have access to
human food their bodies will
not be triggered to go into hi
bernation mode. Conversely,
if acorns weren’t abundant
enough in fall for bears to ap
propriately fatten up, they
might be forced out of their
dens to forage for more food.
When it comes to females,
Hammond discussed a
unique part of their biology
called “delayed implanta
tion” and its relationship to
their denning patterns.
“Summer is breeding sea
son, but the fertilized eggs
won’t implant until they enter
the den in November or
later,” he said. “Then it’s
around 60-63 days gestation
and they give birth in their
den.”
The females emerge in the
spring and cubs will stay with
momma bear that year, and
may return with them to the
den the following winter.
The bare necessities of a
black bear den
The ideal spot for a bear
den is somewhere dry, iso
lated, and safe. As long as
those conditions are met, a
black bear could choose to
set up shop almost anywhere
for the winter.
“A lot of the places we
find dens are thick with veg
etation or on steep slopes -
not somewhere you’re likely
to just stumble across,” Ham
mond said. “I mean you
could, but they are usually
pretty secluded. They need
somewhere good and dry, se
cure from predators, and
somewhere females can raise
their cubs.”
The biologist said dens
range from holes bears have
dug in the ground or in
slopes; under rock outcrop
pings; in a hollowed tree or
under a root ball in a fallen
tree; in rock cavities - and
even in a cozy spot under
your house.
So.. .do bears hibernate in
our more temperate climate
in the southern U.S., you
ask? They certainly do.
“The next time someone
says black bears do not ‘hi
bernate,’ please tell them that
whatever you wish to call the
process, bears do enter a long
period of physical inactivity
and exhibit some amazing
physiological responses to
low food availability and
temperatures,” writes Mark
D. Jones, agricultural liaison
biologist and former black
bear biologist for North Car
olina Wildlife Resources
Commission. “In many ways,
their ability to hibernate for
long periods without feeding
or eliminating waste is more
advanced and remarkable
than what has been consid
ered ‘normal’ hibernation in
volving periodic arousal to
move about and feed.”
Continued From 1A
Stabbing
tipped off that the suspect
was at that residence, but
when they arrived he was not
there, only the vehicle.
Mulkey’s general where
abouts are unknown at this
time. Dawkins has heard that
Mulkey left town, but has
also heard that he could still
be in the area.
Mulkey has been charged
with Aggravated Assault,
with more charges antici
pated for the hit and run inci
dent leaving the scene. Call
911 if you have information
about his whereabouts.
The victim has since been
released from the hospital.
He was originally transported
to Piedmont Mountainside
then later to Kennestone for
surgery.
Continued From 1A
Photo / Jennifer Paire
Also known as "The Sugar People," three of Wholesale
Sugar Flowers’ employees line up in the heart of the com
pany's warehouse on Philadelphia Lane. (l-r) Tonya Martin
of Jasper, customer relations; Amanda Burger of Ball
Ground, candy production; Courtney Dupree of Jasper,
warehouse operations.
Cakes
rating products ranging in so
many colors and sizes the op
tions seem endless: hand
made sugar flowers and
leaves, dragees, sugar pearls,
nonpareils, sprinkles, color
ful sugars, confetti, edible
glitter and royal icing cre
ations.
Brooks, whose passion for
empowering women has
been present throughout her
career, says the company’s
products are priced to help
bakers improve their busi
nesses.
“It can take 30 minutes to
make one sugar flower,”
Brooks explained. “How can
you improve profit in your
business? You can do it with
time. We believe our prod
ucts help more businesses
say yes to more cakes.”
It’s understandable that
many locals have no idea the
company’s warehouse on
Philadelphia Lane is a pastry
chef’s paradise. That’s be
cause the company doesn’t
have a retail store front.
WSF’s bread and butter has
been bulk shipping to other
businesses for most of its 20-
plus years.
Today Brooks and her
growing team whip together
orders pronto for bakers of all
size, including kitchen and
cottage operations - a shift
born of pandemic necessity
and aligned with a desire to
sprinkle joy far and wide.
“The pandemic was such
a shock to us, we had to take
JeepFest
from registration ($85 per
Jeep at the gate), with an
other sizeable amount com
ing from t-shirt and
merchandise sales, followed
by vendor fees.
While the non-profits
have received their checks by
now, 200 excited kids will be
lining up in the Jasper Wal-
mart next week for the Shop
With a Hero nights. This year
the event has expanded to in
clude shopping partners
among the sheriff’s office,
Jasper Police, Georgia State
Patrol, GBI, Department of
Corrections, Fire/EMS and
active military.
The program offers 200
kids, whose families may
need a little help at Christ
mas, $125 gift cards and a
fun outing with a “hero”
picking out new toys.
This may be the most vis
ible use of the funds but the
work done by the non-profits
with the donations from
JeepFest are immense and
widespread.
“It’s huge,” said the sher
iff. “Look at the churches and
measured action fairly
quickly to save the business
and our employees,” re
counted Brooks. “We knew
we could lose a big chunk of
customers; many bakers were
not in a position to afford re
tail space and moved home.
We were able to offer per
piece rates to help them man
age costs and keep them
afloat as well as those at
home who wanted to bake
more.”
WSF marketed its cake
decor using Facebook and
other social media for the
first time, a move “that has
opened the door to a much
broader customer base.”
“We have grown tremen
dously since 2018,” said
Brooks. “We’ve increased
the products we offer, our
customer base and improved
our business model.”
other groups we help. There
is no telling how many chil
dren we reach and get to be
part of [other programs].”
Groups receiving Jeep
Fest funds this year:
-Ferst Readers of Pickens
County.
- Tate Methodist/ CARES
- REACH
- Talking Rock First Baptist
- Young Life
- Angels on Horseback
-Georgia Sheriff Youth
Homes
- North Georgia Pregnancy
Center
-ACES
- Kali Shay Foundation
- Marine Corp. League (Toys
for Tots)
- Pickens Community Serv
ice Club
- Shop with a Hero
- Boys & Girls Club
- Special Olympics
-Pleasant Hill Christian
Church
- Hope for Christmas @ Rev
olution
- North Georgia Family Part
ners
- Redemption Outreach
While WSF has many
new customers clamoring for
its wide array of products -
anything from gumpaste
stephanotis to googly eyes in
royal icing - many existing
clients continue to rely on the
company’s growing collec
tion.
“One of the reasons I do
use (WSF) is over the years,
we’ve used some of the same
flowers a lot and when the
client sees (the flowers) they
want them just like that,” said
Darcy Lynn, a customer for
10 years and owner of award
winning dessert boutique
Cakes by Darcy in Roswell.
“The other reason is they are
super-fast with turnaround.”
Lynn was leaning toward
closing her storefront bakery
to focus more on pre-orders
prior to the pandemic, and
now works out of a cottage
kitchen in her home with her
daughter, Andrea Stocker.
Cakes by Darcy stays booked
and has created cakes for
celebrities T-Pain, Chipper
Jones, Usher and Christie
Brinkley.
With more than 150
flower dusts that can be used
to embellish each blossom,
the company’s metallic ver
sions are on-trend and crucial
to Lynn’s business.
“Right now, metallics are
everything so the metallic
lusters and highlighters are
super important,” Lynn
added. “Brides everywhere
are wanting gold and rose
gold. We’d lose a lot of or
ders if we couldn’t do that.”
Customer service is sprin
kled throughout WSF’s com
pany culture.
“We believe we are an
employer of choice here in
Jasper, especially for women.
Operational jobs can be in
flexible and limiting for
women, but we believe we
offer a path towards helping
women achieve more for
themselves and their fami
lies.”
Full benefits, paid time off
and paid holidays are options
rarely available in the ware
house industry.
“The best part about
working here is just doing the
job and being around the
people I work with,” said
Amanda Burger who is re
sponsible for candy produc
tion, including blending
custom sprinkle mixes.
“Any holiday that comes
around we try to introduce a
new mix,” added Burger,
whose children call her work
place “the sprinkle factory.”
These are not your gro
cery store variety - mixes
may incorporate quins - more
elaborate sprinkles shaped to
look like sea creatures,
pumpkins, bats, Christmas
trees or the Grinch, for exam
ple.
“Our winter fusion is
more of a blue with
snowflakes and crystal col
ors,” said Burger of the latest
creation. “Most of our orders
are custom with school col
ors or for certain events. It is
always something different.”
The sprinkles also find
their way into the hands of
people around the world,
shipping to Europe, Africa,
Australia, South America &
Asia.
“I love working here be
cause I get to interact with
customers globally so that
makes it very interesting,”
said Tonya Martin who man
ages customer relations.
Warehouse Associate
Troy Payne of Blue Ridge
prepares a package of
Wholesale Sugar Flowers'
products for shipping. "The
company treats me ex
tremely well."
Closer to home WSF sup
ports industry events and
charities. The company
sponsored the Sugar Flowers
Award to be presented at the
American Cake Awards in
Miami in April 2022. The
company sponsored a sprin
kle cake competition with
Cake Masters Magazine and,
since 2019, Brooks has made
sure the company continually
supported Icing Smiles, a
non-profit providing custom
celebration cakes and other
treats to families impacted by
the critical illness of a child.
“To have all of these sugar
angels baking for children
you can’t go wrong support
ing them,” she shared. “It
makes life a little brighter
when they are going through
a tough time.”
“We have so much more
to give. We are just getting
started.”
Find out more about this
local company at wholesale-
sugarflowers.com
NWK Creative / Photo
This holiday cake is dec
orated with gumpaste poin-
settias from Wholesale
Sugar Flowers’ Luxury Col
lection of handmade flow
ers. A waterproof ribbon at
the base of the cake is used
for design purposes and to
hide any blemishes when
transferring the cake.
A wedding
cake display at
Wholesale
Sugar Flow
ers ' office fea
tures roses
from the com
pany's Luxury
Collection - a
best-seller -
along with
sprays of Lily
of the Valley..
Photo/NWK
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