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CALIFORNIA Black Bear
Ursus americanus californiensis
photo by Norbert Rosing,
National Geographic
Black bears
are an enduring symbol of North America’s wild forests, once
roaming across nearly every wooded area of the continent. But by
1900, agricultural and urban development coupled with intensive
hunting eliminated black bears from most of the United States.
Staging a remarkable comeback over the last century, black bear
populations are on the rise in many areas.
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Historic range |
1995
Range |
The smallest
of the three bear species in North America, black bears are more
widespread than their grizzly and polar bear cousins but are
still considered rare and threatened in Louisiana, Mississippi,
Texas, and Florida. As grizzlies were hunted to extinction in
California in the early 1900s, black bears gradually moved into
former grizzly habitat along the central coast. In the 1930s,
the California Department of Fish & Game supplemented this
expansion by moving 28 black bears from the Sierra Nevada into
southern California.
Los
Padres: The Southern Fringe
 Today,
30,000 black bears roam throughout California and are divided
into three distinct subpopulations. The vast majority of the
state’s bears are found in the northern portion of the state, in
what biologists refer to as the North Coast/Cascade population
and the Sierra Nevada population. Further south, the Central
Western/ Southwestern population ranges from Monterey County to
Riverside County along the Transverse Ranges and south coast.
This population, which includes the Los Padres National Forest,
is the southernmost fringe of bear country and constitutes less
than ten percent of the total bear population in California.
The Los
Padres National Forest is critical to the survival of black
bears in the southern part of the state because it provides a
large, relatively undeveloped expanse of habitat where bears can
roam freely. Solitary animals, black bears roam large
territories, with males wandering across 15- to 80-square mile
home ranges.
Bear
Behavior
 Despite
their name, black bears can be brown, tan, gray, or black. And
despite their size and fierce reputation, black bears are rather
timid, using their claws to climb trees and dig instead of for
capturing prey. Black bears are omnivores, eating grasses and
leaves in the spring, ants and other insects in the summer, and
berries, nuts, and acorns in the fall. Their large, blocky
bodies lack the agility required to catch most prey, but they do
occasionally feed on fish, small mammals, and carrion. They will
quickly climb a tree if they cannot outrun a predator. Black
bears typically live in forested areas, but roam across diverse
habitats as they seek out a variety of food types.
Black bears
require secure, dry den sites for rearing cubs and for their
winter hibernation. They make their dens in caves, burrows,
brush piles, tree cavities, and other sheltered areas. Black
bears are active during the day, but concentrate most of their
activity at dawn and dusk. However, in areas inhabited by
humans, black bears often become primarily nocturnal and
extremely secretive. In colder areas, the arrival of winter
sends black bears to their dens where they enter a period of
dormancy, feeding on body fat they have built up by eating all
summer and fall. In our region, black bears are typically active
year-round because of our mild climate.
 Female
black bears give birth to two or three cubs in mid-winter. The
cubs will stay with their mother for about two years. Black
bears have a fairly low reproductive rate, breeding every one to
four years with a lifespan of about twenty years. An adult can
weigh anywhere from 100 to 350 pounds, although bears up to 600
pounds have been recorded in California. Many bears seen in the
Los Padres backcountry appear to be particularly plump,
scampering into the chaparral at the first sign of humans.
Living With Bears
Black bears
can loose their natural
fear of humans when they are given access to human food and
garbage. Black bears adapt to the presence of people and can
become habituated to feeding in residential and recreational
areas, creating increased human-bear encounters. In the Los
Padres, this problem has emerged in Pine Mountain Club, a small
community in the Los Padres National Forest. An organization
called
Los Padres
Bear Aware has formed there to educate its residents about
living responsibly in bear habitat.
When bears
continually pose a threat to property, the Department of Fish &
Game may issue a “depredation permit” and the bear may be
killed. Between 2004 and 2007, the Department issued 734 such
permits statewide, which resulted 312 bear deaths. Depredation
rates are lower around the Los Padres National Forest, with
twelve permits issued and nine bears killed between Monterey and
Ventura counties during the same time period. The best method
for preventing these interactions is for humans in bear habitat
to live smartly by removing bear attractants like garbage and
securing structures to prevent entry.
In 1948, the
State of California classified bears as game animals,
establishing a hunting season and licensing requirements. Twenty
years later, the number of bears allowed per hunter was reduced
from two to one. In 1972, hunting of cubs and females with cubs
was prohibited. Current regulations provide for a 23 day archery
season in August and a general bear hunting season which is
concurrent with deer season in the fall. Currently, bear season
is closed when 1,700 bears are reported taken or on the last
Sunday in December, whichever comes first. However, the
Department of Fish & Game is considering lifting this cap and
allowing an unlimited number of bears to be taken during hunting
season. Trailing hounds are often used to pursue bears, and
after the bear climbs up a tree to escape the dogs, the cornered
bear is then shot. Hounding is considered by some to be
unsportsmanlike, and has been outlawed in several states, but
remains legal in California. The use of bait for bear hunting is
illegal in California.
Threats
The illegal
killing (poaching) of black bears has been a problem in
California and other western states. In the 1980s, poaching was
almost equal to the legal harvest in some areas. A demand for
bear parts, particularly feet and gallbladders, for use in
traditional Asian medicines was thought to have contributed to
illegal activity. While additional regulations have reduced the
incidences of poaching, the Department of Fish & Game estimates
that illegal kill of bears still constitutes 25% of the legal
harvest, or approximately 525 bears in California every year.
Land
management activities can affect the capability of an area to
support bear populations. Retention and recruitment of snags
(dead trees) and large woody debris provide den sites and
potential food sources (colonial insects). Often attendant
activities such as road construction, which do not directly
reduce habitat, adversely effect bear populations by increasing
hunting vulnerability and increasing the likelihood of vehicle
strikes.
ForestWatch
is working to ensure that bear habitat is protected across the
Los Padres National Forest, preserving large intact chunks of
habitat and their freedom to roam. ForestWatch is also tracking
a proposal to allow black bear hunting in San Luis Obispo
County, demanding that the Department of Fish & Game first
conduct accurate and scientifically defensible population
studies so that officials can properly evaluate the ecological
impacts of hunting in this area where bears are just beginning
to establish a self-sustaining population.
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