Isaac Goldstein, Kym Gopp

Accurate information on population status and threats is essential for the timely management of the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus). Since populations span extensive landscapes—including national parks and private lands—reaching adequate sample sizes is logistically challenging. Since 2010, the Andean Bear Conservation Alliance (ABCA) has refined a low-cost methodology using sign-based single-season occupancy models with spatial replicates across two scales (1-km² and 16-km² cells). This approach addresses logistics by dividing sampling units among landscape stakeholders according to their specific budget and human resources. A cornerstone of this process is a comprehensive capacity-building strategy that fosters local appropriation, ensuring the long-term sustainability of monitoring. To date, this has enabled the modeling of bear occupancy across 11 landscapes (each >380,000 ha), including 39 national protected areas in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Specifically, in Colombia and Peru, 7 landscapes covering 29 protected areas have incorporated Andean bear monitoring every five years as a mandatory management action. Government organizations (GOs) and NGOs now use this data to evaluate protected area effectiveness, prioritize restoration areas, guide sustainable development, and strengthen community engagement. Furthermore, these insights inform high-level policy, such as mining permit decisions and national conservation strategies. By integrating standardized monitoring with adaptive management, this framework provides a scalable model for carnivore conservation in complex socio-ecological systems. Its success relies on GOs and NGOs recognizing monitoring as a decisional tool; in Peru and Colombia, this has already led to the formalization of monitoring protocols through official government documents—a milestone we aim to replicate across the species' entire range.