Fieldbook features McNeil River bears

ANCHORAGE - A group has published a fieldbook featuring 30 individual bears that congregate at McNeil River to the delight of visitors.

The book, "McNeil River Bears: 2010 Photo ID Fieldbook," follows last year's edition.

Each bear is identified by age, gender, scars, characteristics and unusual habits.

Visitors who win a permit to visit McNeil can jot down their observations in the waterproof book.

A state permit program limits visitors to 10 per day between June 7 and Aug. 25.

The river flows from the Aleutian Range to Cook Inlet.

The 200-square-mile sanctuary protects one of the world's largest concentrations of brown bears who come to eat the salmon making their way upstream.