People Create Bear Problem

by Tom Stienstra
San Francisco Chronicle - June 6, 2004

The bears have been at it again this week in Yosemite Valley.

And not just sauntering right into campsites and raiding any food left sitting out. In the meadow next to the Yosemite Chapel, two big bears were spotted busy making little bears. It created a full-scale traffic jam. Hey, it was a better show than the waterfalls.

In my latest visit to Yosemite this weekend, I've concluded it's unlikely the bear problem will ever be solved here. There were 13 more bear incidents reported in the past week, bringing the total to 60 already for the spring season, up 97 percent from last year.

You probably know why, of course. It's always been a people problem, not a bear problem.

For most park visitors, the bears resemble cartoon characters; seeing one validates the vacation. I've seen experienced campers on their last night leave out an open tub of butter on a picnic table to entice a bear into their camp, impress the family and get pictures.

Hey, if you were a bear, what would you rather eat? Grass, ants, termites and bugs under rocks, or a tub of butter?

At Yosemite, Yogi is definitely smarter than your average bear. Bears learn quickly each June that they can just amble into a campsite at about 8 p. m., merely glance at the day's newly arrived campers, elicit shrieks and shouts and then nab any leftovers sitting out.

The bears are like UPS drivers on their rounds, going from campsite to campsite, with each bear working its nightly route. "So, whatcha got for little ol' me?" Every day, a new camper shows up, and the shock-and-awe effect usually nets at least a leftover hot dog.

When the cubs are born in winter, they weigh just a half-pound. In late April, when they emerge with their mother from their den, they have grown to about 10 pounds. When the first campers show up in May and June, the first lesson that Boo-Boo gets is how to raid food at campsites, with all the tricks of the trade. By the time they are yearlings, typically 50 to 90 pounds, the lessons are complete from a summer of practice, and the cycle is passed on.

In 2001, that cycle was broken, at least for a few months.

Rangers at Yosemite made a landmark breakthrough by reducing damage from food-raiding bears, with bear incidents in the park down 57 percent that summer, 459 to 197.

The key is that park rangers identified and treated the real problem: people, not the bears. They discovered it is people who create food-raiding bears by not storing their food properly or disposing of their trash.

When entering the park, visitors were provided with a lecture and a flyer explaining that food must be stored in bear-proof food lockers and that backpackers were required to use bear-proof food canisters. Failure to do so would get you a citation, perhaps a $500 fine.

People hate getting cited, you know, and they hate $500 fines even more. The crackdown forced compliance among the summer's 3 million visitors to the park. In rural areas where repeat food-raiding bears get shot, I've always believed it is the people who leave out pet food and garbage who should be cited and punished for creating the situation, not the bear that responds to the situation.

Well, at Yosemite, you just don't get the impression anymore that you'll be fined $500, unless you get caught doing something outrageous, like baiting a bear in. The reason, according to one ranger I talked to, is that the guy who directed the bear program three years ago no longer works at the park, and execution of the program has fallen through the cracks.

So the bears are having their own picnic. And the truth is, unless your car is damaged, most visitors love it.

Then there is the story of the tourists from Europe who didn't think it was so funny.

This was in Wawona in south Yosemite, where the four tourists charged into the ranger station, shouting in hysterics that their "rental car had been bombed by terrorists." The proof, they said, was the "powder residue from the explosive" all over the back seat.

Rangers examined the crime scene and discovered that the "powder residue" was actually pancake mix -- along with a paw print in the middle of the back seat.