Last summer, I saw three bears. Actually...I think I saw the SAME bear three times! There has been an increase in bear sightings in the Big South Fork...because the bear population is increasing, with the species reintroduced to an area where it once thrived.
When European settlers began populating Tennessee in the mid-1700s, black bears were a common sight but, by the late 1800s, human encroachment had driven most of the black bear population from the area now known as Big South Fork. Black bears had nearly been eliminated from the State of Tennessee by the 1900s due to loss of habitat, and human harassment. Timber was an "extraction industry" in this part of the country and the area was heavily logged by the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company, headquartered in southeastern Kentucky. Black bears were occasionally sighted in remote areas of the Cumberland Plateau as late as the 1970s and '80s but the upsurge in recent verified sightings is due, in part, to a natural migration from surrounding states as the regeneration of forestland again provides suitable habitat.
In late 1996 and early 1997, the National Park Service captured 14 female black bears from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, fitted them with radio collars, and released them into the Big South Fork as part of a study on relocation techniques and to determine whether the Big South Fork could support a bear population. While not all the released bears remained in the area, some have established home ranges in and around Big South Fork and biologists have observed that Big South Fork's bears weigh more than bears in other nearby populations.
Another big finding of this study is that have been no problems, no nuisance behavior. The bears have just assimilated into the landscape. To minimize nuisance behavior, garbage cans in the Big South Fork have been replaced with bear-proof trash containers.
The bears have fared well....as have their human counterparts. There have been numerous sightings by hikers, mountain bikers, trail riders and campers but no incidents. We know they're out there and they know we're here. Today, rangers estimate that there are 40 to 50 black bears in the Big South Fork. Bears require a large area in which to roam and it is believed that they range within about a 165-mile radius.
I always hope they're roaming somewhere else when it's time to pick blackberries!
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