D. L. Bliss State Park Handbook

8/9/2019 D. L. Bliss State Park Handbook

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Name of Park

State Park

American

Black Bears in

California State Parks

State Parks and Campgrounds in the

Sierra District are situated in areas that

are also black bear habitat.

Photo:

Jic Clk

Thanks to the ollowing agencies

or their assistance:

El Dorado County

U.S. Forest Service,

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit

Caliornia Department o Fish and Game

U.S Fish and Wildlie Service

Tahoe Council or Wild Bears

Yosemite National Park

Sequoia National Park

Caliornia State Parks, Sierra District:

Mono Lake State Tua Natural Reserve

Bodie SHP

Grover Hot Springs SP

Lake Valley SRA

Washoe Meadows SP

Emerald Bay SP

DL Bliss SP

Ed Zberg Sugar Pine Point SP

Ward Creek Unit

Tahoe SRA

Burton Creek SP

Kings Beach SRA

Donner Memorial SP

Plumas Eureka SP

Malako Diggins SHP

Empire Mine SHP

South Yuba River SP

For more inormation contact:Park Oce, Campground Entry Station or

Caliornia State ParksSierra District Headquarters

7360 West Lake Blvd. (Highway 89)Tahoma, CA 96142

(530) 525-7232

Blck b (Ursus americanus)

are an important component

o Caliornias ecosystems and

a valuable natural legacy or

the people o Caliornia. The

black bear is the only specieso bear remaining in Caliornia

and Nevada. The common name

o black bear is misleading;

Caliornia black bears may be

black, brown, cinnamon, even

blonde; sometimes with a white

patch on the chest.


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Bear enCounters -Never approach a bear!

In the campground: Do not run. Be aggressive; assert your dominance by standing tall

and making noise to scare the bear away. Banging pots and pans together and shouting

loudly may work.

In the woods: This is the bears territory; respect

that and do not run. Make eye contact, butdont stare. Pick up small children. Make

yoursel appear as large as possible. Stay

calm and quiet, back away slowly.

Black bears will usually avoid

conrontation with humans.

Bears will oten climb a tree

i rightened and usually

wont come down aslong as humans

or dogs are

present.

Get out

o the way!

I the bear attempts to get away,

do not block the bears escape route.

Report all bear encounters: in State Park

campgrounds and picnic grounds to the parkofce, entrance station, campground hosts or to

rangers on patrol.

Photo:

By Hy

Strict regulations are in place to

reduce conficts between humans

and bears. There iszero tolerance

or non-compliance.

Bear-resistantfoodstoragefacilitiesare available at Sierra District

Campgrounds.

Allfoodandrefusemustbestored

inthebear-resistantfacilities

provided unless it is being actively

used or transported.

Nofoodorrefusemaybestoredina

vehicle in the campground.

Foodthatcannotbestoredinthe

bear-resistantfacilitiesprovided

must be discarded.

Non-compliancewillresultinpark

sta conscating ood and/or issuing

a citation.

What you

know and do

can prevent

injury to bears,

property, even

to you, your

amily and

riends!


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on seasonal availability o ood.

Black bears diets consist o six ood

categories: grasses, berries, nuts,

insects, small mammals, wood ber,

and carrion (decaying fesh).

Food shortages occur in summer

and all when wild ood is no longer

available. Then, bears get bolder

and travel arther searching or ood.

Human encounters with bears may be

more requent during these times.

The trunk o your car and coolers are

notbear-proof!Bearsmaylearnto

associate wrappers and containers with

ood and can identiy them by sight.

They also learn to open some kinds o

vehicle doors.

BhviBlack bears can be activeanytime during the day or night. As

winter approaches, bears will orage

or ood up to 20 hours a day to store

enough at to sustain them throughhibernation.

Black bears may scavenge in garbage

cans and dumpsters, and break into

and demolish the interiors o houses,

garages, cars and campers. Bears will

also raid campsites and ood caches

and sometimes injure people. Oten

these incidents are the result o carelesshuman behavior. Black bears will seek

to avoid conrontation with humans.

I encountered, always leave them an

escape route.

Black Bears

adltypically weigh 100 to 400pounds and measure between 4 and 6

eet rom tip o nose to tail. Males are

larger than emales. Some adult males

may weigh over 500 pounds.

Black bears have curved claws that

allow them to climb trees. They oten

climb to retreat rom threats, including

humans. A healthy bear may run up to

30 miles per hour or short distances.

Black bears are excellent swimmers

and are capable o crossing up to 1

miles o open resh water or ood.

DiBears are omnivorous; theirteeth are designed or crushing ood

ratherthancuttinglikemeat-eating

carnivores. Bears diets are based

Photo:

tmmy ev Photo:

Jic Clk

Photo:

sc elli


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Never Feed a Bear!

Blackbearshaveaverykeensenseofsmell

and are attracted to any ood or reuse they

can smell. In Caliornia a black bear was

tracked as it traveled three miles upwind, in astraight line, to a ood source.

Storefood,toiletriesand/oranythingwitha

scent properly in the bear-proo lockers

provided.

Keepsleepingbags,tentsandsleepingareas

ree o ood and beverage odors.

Cleaneverythingafterpreparingameal.

Disposeofgarbageproperly.Ifabear-proof

dumpster is not available, store your garbage in

bear-proo lockers provided at campgrounds,

until it can be disposed o properly.

People should never eed bears, even unintentionally.

Once bears get ood rom people, they begin toassociate all humans with ood. Without a natural ear o

people, bears become increasingly aggressive.

A Fed Bear is aDead Bear!

Once habituated to sources o human ood, bears will seek them out, creating conficts with humans. The bears behavior

will not stop voluntarily. Unless the behavior can be corrected, bears may have to be killed. To avoid these deaths, the ood

source must be removed.

Photo:

tmmy ev

Documents

D. L. Bliss State Park Handbook