The mountains south of the town where I grew up have been home to bears for as long as there have been people in that area. Most of the bears in the valley are black bears, though there have been a few grizzlies spotted at various places in the area. For the most part, bears prefer to avoid humans. When I was growing up, seeing bears in Yellowstone National Park was common. Tourists often fed the bears which attracted them to roadsides. Bears also fed at several garbage dumps scattered around the park. At the Old Faithful Lodge they had bleachers set up near the dump where people would go to observe the bears. After several incidents of tourists being injured by bears the park service began to change its policies. They shut down the garbage dumps. They trapped and moved some of the bears, though this practice had limited success. The bears often returned to their previous locations after being moved and once a bear has been caught in a culvert trap, it is unlikely to fall for the next attempt at trapping it.

A few years ago my sister put up a game camera at our family’s place in Montana and we were surprised at the images of a bear coming through the place. We had been unaware that bears occasionally went through the property. Bears prefer to avoid people.

We hiked in the mountains and backpacked into the wilderness areas. Although we knew stories of bear encounters, we learned to avoid conflict with the bears. Simply being noisy an allowing the bears to hear you before you approach is an effective tactic most of the time. We carried tin cups on our backpacks and used other items to make noise as we walked so that we were less likely to surprise a bear. We knew that we needed to be careful when picking huckleberries and mindful that we weren’t the only creatures that like to eat that fruit.

On our recent trip to Montana, we hiked and stayed in campgrounds where there were a lot of signs warning about bears. Garbage containers designed to prevent bears from getting at the trash and bear safe food storage boxes were common in campgrounds. We didn’t, however, see any bears on this particular trip. That is just fine with me. I’ve seen plenty of bears in my life and I prefer to watch them from a distance.

It was a surprise to us, then, to read in our local newspaper that a family of bears has been visiting a neighborhood just a few miles down the road from us. The bears have been spotted several times just a few blocks from the elementary school our granddaughters attend. The school and its playground are safe places, crowded with children during the day, full of noise, and places bears are sure to avoid. The children are never alone in that area. Still, the news was enough to get my attention.

As more and more homes are built in the forest and alongside the roads leading into the mountains, the habitat for the bears is shrinking. This summer’s drought and several fires in the mountains have further altered the distribution of the bears. The mother bear and her cubs that have been spotted around here likely have come down to our area in search of food because the places where they normally have found food have been disrupted by drought and fire. They aren’t likely to stay in the neighborhood. There are too many things that make life uncomfortable for them.

More than feeling a sense of danger, I find the encounters with the bears to be amusing. Of course they haven’t come into my yard and they haven’t explored the garbage bins in our neighborhood. If we had bears in our neighborhood on a regular basis, the first thing I would have to do is to discontinue the practice of keeping a compost bin. I have a small garbage can that sits alongside our house in which I keep compost. I haul the compost to the farm where it is mixed with other products to produce soil for gardening. I suspect that my bin might be attractive to a bear and one getting into the bin would make a mess that I’d rather not have to clean up.

The bears visiting our area were out in the day enough for a photographer from the newspaper to get a few images of them. It has given locals something to talk about over coffee.

Recently I read a study conducted in Yellowstone National Park of the causes of death of elk calves. The mortality rate of young elk is relatively high. This has long been part of the natural cycles of the animals and they produce enough calves to maintain a stable population in the park. In fact there have been several times in my lifetime when the elk in the park have become very overpopulated. The reintroduction of wolves to the park has helped to restore some balance in the elk herds. The interesting result of this study, however, was that wolves kill relatively few elk calves. The wolves seem to prefer hunting adult animals. Most of the elk calves that were killed by predators were killed by bears.

Even as I am amused by bear encounters, I need to remember that these are apex predators. They have evolved with the ability to hunt and kill other creatures. In an encounter with a bear a person could come out on the short end. While the black bears seen in our area are less likely to attack a person than a grizzly, it is best to observe the animals from a safe distance.

So far officials have responded to the bear reports by attempting to monitor the location of the bears in our part of the county. They expect them to leave the lowlands and return to the mountains in the next couple of days. Still, it won’t hurt to practice a bit of bear safety.

Another sign that I saw in several stores in Montana, “Bear spray is NOT returnable.” I don’t need bear spray, but I guess if you buy some, you’re stuck with it. It made me wonder what circumstances would make a person want to return bear spray. Perhaps some people were buying it, taking a hike, and then returning it when they didn’t see a bear. I wonder if recent bear sightings in our area have boosted sales in area sports shops.