Nuisance black bear complaints and the number of bears that had to be killed by state Department of Environmental Conservation staff in the Adirondacks rose considerably in 2018 compared to last year.

The rise in numbers were particularly impressive in DEC Region 5, which covers three quarters of the Adirondack Park. The area includes Clinton, Franklin, Essex, Hamilton, Fulton, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties.

DEC Region 5

During 2017, a total of five bears had to be euthanized in the region - three were due to severe cases of mange, and the other two due to "aggressive or habituated behavior. (Mange is a skin disease of mammals caused by parasitic mites and occasionally communicable to humans. It typically causes severe itching, hair loss, and the formation of scabs and lesions.)

During 2018, a total of 15 bears were euthanized - 12 were due to bears entering occupied dwellings, one involved a bear that simply refused to leave a camping site after being hazed by DEC staff, and two had severe cases of mange.

In addition, the DEC's regional staff received 507 bear-related complaints. Last year, 143 complaints were lodged, DEC said.

Why?

"The biggest reasons for the difference in the two years are weather conditions and food availability," said Jim Stickles, a DEC wildlife biologist. "The spring and early summer of 2017 was wet, resulting in an abundance of succulent plants and mast food sources. While the spring and early summer of 2018 was dry. Dry conditions shorten the window that succulent plants are available and reduce the abundance and availability of mast crops."

Hard mast includes the nuts of trees that fall to the ground that can be eaten from oak, hickory of beech trees. Soft mast includes raspberries, blueberries, black berries and greenbriar.

"When this (a bad mast crop) happens, bears are more likely to take bigger risks and take advantage of easy food sources in close proximity to people, such as garbage, bird feeder, pet/livestock food," Stickles said. "Additionally, many people in northern New York cool their homes by leaving windows and doors open with a screen separating inside from out. Screens are no adequate barriers for bears, and as a result, there were numerous home entries this year."

Stickles cited one more factor for the increase in complaints - more bears.

"During wet years with plentiful food sources, the bear harvest may be reduced as well," he said. "Food sources are less concentrated, and bears can more successfully avoid hunters. The Northern Zone bear harvest for 2017 was down from 2016, and well below the five-year average. In addition, sows going into their dens well fed give birth to more cubs. Both of these factors resulted in a higher population of bears in 2018 seeking nourishment from a reduced amount of natural foods."

Stickles said the DEC's campgrounds around the Saranac Lakes and Limekiln Lakes had the most bear complaints. "Backcountry camping areas in the High Peaks Wilderness in the areas of Lake Colden, Marcy Dam and in Johns Brook Valley also had higher than usual levels of nuisance bear activity," he added.

The Saranac Lake Islands campgrounds, which include Lower and Middle Saranac Lakes, saw a bear killed by DEC in late August "after is stayed at a camping site for several hours, despite attempts from a conservation officer to haze it.

"Due to the bear's persistence nuisance behavior, the decision was made to euthanize (it) in the interest of public safety," DEC spokesman Dave Winchell said in a written statement.

Winchell added that the 11-year-old bruin had originally been captured in 2016 at DEC's Eighth Lake campground in southwestern Hamilton County after it had been raiding unsecured coolers and approaching people to obtain food. At that time of its capture, the bear was tagged and relocated to a remote location near Dunbar Mountain in the town of Duane in Franklin County, reported the Daily Adirondack Enterprise.

"Currently, we rarely relocate bears as they often return to the place where they are captured or become a problem somewhere else," he said.

Stickles added there were "several incidents in the High Peaks Wilderness where a bear came into a campsite and either obtained food before campers noticed or campers abandoned their food at the sight of a bear. Once the bear has the food, it may try to protect it rather than run away. It was not clear if it was the same bear in all these instances."

While there is always the possibility of danger, there were no reported injuries despite the increased number bear/human encounters, DEC said.

The bottom line, though, is that DEC efforts to trap, haze or tag problem bears have not proven successful and the department going into 2019 plans to rely on educating campers and others in the public on how to limit negative bear encounters.

"DEC staff will be meeting later this year to discuss last year's incidents and determine that changes will be made going into next year," Stickles said. "The common theme every year is getting people to change their behavior so they don't attract and create nuisance bears. If people take steps to prevent bears from obtaining food at homes and campsites we would not have a nuisance bear problem,

For more on reducing human-bear conflicts, see the DEC website.