Black Bear Education, Awareness & Research

The black bear is one of the most charismatic and intriguing species in the Adirondack Park.  The expanding population of black bears in the Park, together with increasing human presence in the backcountry, enhances the likelihood of bear-human conflicts involving backcountry campers and rural residents.  In many backcountry areas, most bears remain shy and elusive. Some highly used areas, however, experience numerous incidents of bears seeking human food.  In addition, many communities have had bears enter residential areas looking for garbage and other food sources. To help educate people entering bear country and to better understand the causes and solutions of human-bear conflicts, WCS has launched the Black Bear Education, Awareness and Research Project (BBEAR).

The Human Aspect

As many as 12 million people every year visit the Adirondack Park as a vacation destination.   It is also home to more than 130,000 year-round residents and as many seasonal residents. Visitors hiking, back-packing and canoeing into the Adirondack backcountry and wilderness areas generate trash and bring with them large amounts of food, which often attracts bears.  Adirondack residents, seasonal home owners, and local businesses also create potential bear foods in the form of household and commercial trash, birdfeeders, and pet foods. Between 1993 and 2003, the number of reported nuisance bear complaints in communities in the Park increased by approximately 400%. 

Threats

Eating human food and trash is unhealthy for bears; it ultimately reduces their natural foraging behavior and often leads to aggressiveness. Bears that are conditioned to human food sometimes become bold and fearless around humans and spend more time foraging near campsites and developed sites including residential areas. Many of these bears are identified as nuisance animals and some eventually may be killed by wildlife officials. Others are often injured or killed by vehicles while crossing roads or hunted illegally. Feeding bears can also lead to serious property damage and threats to human safety. Dependence on human food sources also contributes to higher than normal population densities and may cause other unnatural alternations in bears' behavior and ecology.

WCS Activities

WCS founded BBEAR to work collaboratively with partners to better understand the dynamic between people and black bears in the Adirondacks.  We have engaged in critical activities to help mitigate black bear - human conflict in the park:

• Promoting the use of bear-resistant food canisters for carrying and storing food in the backcountry. Since 2001 WCS has provided regional outdoor and sporting goods retail stores with over 150 canisters for low cost rental to backpackers and have purchased canisters for NYSDEC personnel working in the High Peaks.
• Reaching out to local businesses and outdoor retail shops to provide information about how to reduce the chances of a negative bear encounter. 
• Distributing bear information at trail-heads, to retail outlets and camping organizations, and presenting educational programs on current black bear issues.
• Researching conflict areas:  WCS is identifying information sources and solutions to the problem through analysis of NYSDEC bear incident data and WCS data from backpacker surveys.  

Important Next Steps

• Use research to guide future educational programs on reducing bear human conflict.
• Create educational materials on preventing human-bear conflicts including brochures, posters, and school curricula.
• Work with local communities to solve bear problems in residential and commercial areas through information provision and identifying locations of potential conflicts.
• Establish a Community Bear Fund to help local communities implement measures to prevent and respond to negative bear encounters.
• Use the results of WCS’ Living Landscape Program mapping to identify communities where bear-human interactions are most likely, and target conservation actions in those communities.

More BBEAR Resources

Black  Learn about black bear natural history
Bear  Learn about black bear encounters and safety
Education  Find out more about the causes of human - bear conflict
Awareness  Ways you can be part of the solution 
Research  Learn more about WCS' research efforts on bears 

Go straight to information about bear-resistant food canisters or locations where you can rent canisters.

Related activities 

Get involved 

If you are interested in participating in WCS' B-BEAR program as an information provider, an outdoor leader, an interested volunteer, OR if you would like to receive a copy of our surveys or reports, contact our office in Saranac Lake.