Wildlife Alert - BEARS

Be Bear Aware During Your Visit.

Are you prepared to store your food properly on your next camping or backpacking trip?

Much of the Sequoia National Forest is American black bear habitat. They belong here. 

Bears are extremely intelligent and curious and have learned to see people as a source of food. Do your part to keep our bears wild and enjoy the experience of seeing a bear behave naturally, foraging for grasses, ants, and berries, instead of in your camp or your car. 

Bears will visit your campsite if you don’t take the precaution of storing your food properly. In developed campgrounds, if you are more than an arm’s length away from your food, use the bear-resistant food lockers (normally 48 inches wide, 29 inches deep, and 38 inches high (24 cubic feet) – large enough to store coolers. 

The preferred method of storing food is to use the food lockers provided in campgrounds and at trailheads or to plan so that no food is left behind in your car. 

Always clean up your camp of food and trash promptly after meals so that bears are less likely to visit your camp. Tents are not smell-proof or bear-proof; therefore, you shouldn’t store food or anything with a fragrance inside them. 

Bear-resistant containers and panniers are the most effective method of food storage for wilderness travelers. In all wilderness areas of Sequoia National Forest, the use of bear-resistant containers is strongly recommended. 

Feeding bears, while potentially hazardous to people, is also detrimental to bears. Our food may not provide them with enough of the right calories to sustain them through winter. In their search for food, bears can become aggressive towards people. 

Eventually, the “problem” bear may have to be euthanized. A fed bear is a dead bear. Is it the bear that’s the problem or the people that have been feeding it?

Find out more information here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/know-before-you-go/bears