Bear activity and behaviors in areas of human use or proximity require research because of significant and potentially dangerous conflicts between humans and bears. Previous studies in areas of the country outside of Utah determined that black bears (Ursus americanus) tend to exhibit diurnal or crepuscular activity patterns. Activity patterns, however, may be influenced by humans, especially in urbanized landscapes or in areas such as campgrounds where anthropogenic food resources are available. Our study objectives were to determine bear activity schedules and changes in visitation patterns to regularly supplied anthropogenic food sites in the La Sal Mountains of southeastern Utah. Using remote camera stations, we determined that bear visitation was primarily crepuscular and nocturnal (76.3% of visits), and bears did not visit freshly provisioned sites more quickly or more frequently through time. Although bear activity is different by region, provisioning food may not alter bear activity at supplemental feeding sites

Bunnell, Kevin

Ranglack, Dustin H.

Shivik, John

Signor, Kari D.

Ranglack, Dustin

Signor, Kari

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- Proceedings Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for 2009 Black Bear Activity and Visitation Patterns at Human Food Sources in Utah Dustin Ranglack Institute, Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA Kari Signor Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA Kevin Bunnell Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT, USA John Shivik U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_wdmconfproc  Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Ranglack, Dustin; Signor, Kari; Bunnell, Kevin; and Shivik, John, "Black Bear Activity and Visitation Patterns at Human Food Sources in Utah" (2009). Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- Proceedings. 144. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_wdmconfproc/144 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- Proceedings by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  172  J. R. Boulanger, editor Urban Carnivores  Black Bear Activity and Visitation Patterns at Human Food Sources in Utah  DUSTIN H. RANGLACK, Berryman Institute, Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA KARI D. SIGNOR, Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA KEVIN BUNNELL, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT, USA JOHN SHIVIK, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA  ABSTRACT Bear activity and behaviors in areas of human use or proximity require research because of significant and potentially dangerous conflicts between humans and bears. Previous studies in areas of the country outside of Utah determined that black bears (Ursus americanus) tend to exhibit diurnal or crepuscular activity patterns. Activity patterns, however, may be influenced by humans, especially in urbanized landscapes or in areas such as campgrounds where anthropogenic food resources are available. Our study objectives were to determine bear activity schedules and changes in visitation patterns to regularly supplied anthropogenic food sites in the La Sal Mountains of southeastern Utah. Using remote camera stations, we determined that bear visitation was primarily crepuscular and nocturnal (76.3% of visits), and bears did not visit freshly provisioned sites more quickly or more frequently through time. Although bear activity is different by region, provisioning food may not alter bear activity at supplemental feeding sites.  KEY WORDS activity, black bear, human food sources, Ursus americanus, Utah, visitation patterns  Black bears (Ursus americanus) frequently come into conflict with humans while obtaining anthropogenic food sources (Spencer et al. 2007). Bear activity is often destructive and potentially dangerous to humans as well as the bears themselves, because bears are frequently killed after coming into conflict with humans (Spencer et al. 2007, Mazur and Seher 2008).  Many bears become habituated to human foods, especially along the urban-wildland interface and in campgrounds. Bear behavior can be influenced in a variety of ways while exploiting regularly available and high-value human food sources. For example, bears tend to switch from the “wild” diurnal pattern to crepuscular and nocturnal activity patterns in order to avoid times of human activity (Ayres et al. 1986, Beckman and Berger 2003, Lyons 2005, Matthews et al. 2006).  Bears also may compete for limited food supplies in wild habitats and may change their activity levels in response to such limitations and to the presence of humans. As bears learn that a food resource is regularly available in small quantities, will they learn to become more efficient in obtaining the resource?  That is, will bears become quicker at finding and consuming human food as they gain more experience, or will bears sample food sites more frequently in order to closely track the potential resource? Fine-scale assessments of bear activity in response to anthropogenic food sources are needed both in Utah and elsewhere, because knowing when bears are actively visiting sites can help managers to best match management methods with particular damage management situations (Shivik 2006). The objective of this study was to describe activity patterns of a population of wild black bears at anthropogenic food Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  173  J. R. Boulanger, editor sources in the La Sal Mountains of Utah. More specifically, we hypothesized that bears would alter their activity patterns in order to more quickly obtain regularly supplied food and that bears would increase their visitation rates to sites with regularly provided human food.  STUDY AREA Our study area was in the La Sal Mountains of southwest Utah on a combination of private and public lands. The La Sals were selected because they are relatively remote and low human activity enabled us to bait wild black bears while minimizing risk to public safety. The area is surrounded by a desert of sandstone mesas, slot canyons, and sagebrush flats. Mountain peaks range from 10,895 ft to 12,721 ft. Aspen (Populus tremuloides), scrub oak (Quercus gambelii) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) were the dominant plant species. High daily temperatures typically remain below 26° C but lows can be below freezing, even during early summer months. Beginning in July, the region often experiences daily thunderstorms and monsoon-like rainfall. There are several established recreation sites throughout the La Sals, although public recreation predominantly occurs along the southeastern section of the mountains. Our field experiments were conducted on the northeast side of the range.  METHODS We established and baited 21 sites, all at least 1.6 kilometers apart, from 29 May to 30 July 2008. Each site consisted of a 20-gallon plastic trash bin that was bolted to a tree. Bins had plastic covers which were secured with elastic cords; covers were designed to allow bears to gain access, but to exclude other smaller species. We drilled holes (< 10 mm) into the bottom of the bins to allow water to drain and into the sides to allow dispersion of scent. We affixed a Cuddeback We checked and replenished sites every other day throughout the duration of the study, although on 3 occasions checks were delayed up to 2 days due to logistical issues (e.g., flat tires). We used the trail cameras to document the date and time of all bear visits to the sites. We defined a bear visit as any image or video of a bear that was captured by the infrared camera. We used site visitation as our dependent variable because damage is caused when a bear visits a site; consequently it was not necessary to identify individual bears. Digital motion-sensor camera (Non Typical, Inc., Park Falls, WI) to a tree facing the trash bin to monitor bear activity. Sites were defined using a single strand of barbed wire set 0.5 m high and > 0.6 m from the bin so that bears were forced to cross the wire to access the bin. Thus, hairs were collected to confirm bear presence in the event that photographic evidence was equivocal. We baited each site with 300 g of discarded baked goods that we obtained from local grocery stores. Bear and human (i.e, our visits) activity schedules were assessed using descriptive statistics. We constructed histograms to identify the 4-hr blocks of time that received the most visitation. To determine if bears attempted to obtain the regularly provisioned food more rapidly as they became more familiar with the sites (i.e., through repeated visits), we regressed the number of visits to the sites against the latency for the first bear to visit the re-provisioned sites. We determined latency to visit a site by calculating the amount of time between the baiting event and the first bear visit to the site. To determine if bears began to sample sites more frequently as they became more familiar with them, we categorized sites by the number of times bears had visited them and then compared the mean number of bear visits per Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  174  J. R. Boulanger, editor  Figure 1. Daily activity pattern of black bears as measured by bear visitation to 21 supplemental feeding sites in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, during 29 May to 30 July 2008. 00.511.522.50:01 -  4:00 4:01 -  8:00 8:01 - 12:00 12:01 - 16:00 16:01 - 20:00 20:01 - 24:00Time of DayMean # of Visits Figure 2. Daily activity pattern of humans replenishing 21 supplemental feeding sites for black bears in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, during 29 May to 30 July 2008. 012345670:01 - 4:00 4:01 - 8:00 8:01 - 12:00 12:01 - 16:00 16:01 - 20:00 20:01 - 24:00TimeNumber of Visits Figure 3. Latency of bears to visit 21 supplemental feeding sites in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, during 29 May to 30 July 2008.  02468101214160:01 - 4:008:01 - 12:0016:01 - 20:0024:01 - 28:0032:01 - 36:0040:01 - 44:0048:01 - 52:0056:01 - 60:0064:01 - 68:0072:01 - 76:0080:01 - 84:0088:01 - 92 :00Time Since Human Visit and BaitingNumber of Vists Figure 4. Latency to visits to a recently provisioned food source by the number of times bears had visited sites. Data were collected from 21 supplemental feeding sites in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, during 29 May to 30 July 2008.  0720144021602880360043200 2 4 6 8 10 12Number of Bear VisitsLatency to New Visit (min)               .         provisioning period to each category using ANOVA.   RESULTS We recorded 376 bear visits to the feeding sites; 274 were repeated visits during the same 2-day observation period and 102 were first-time visits of recently provisioned food sites. Of the first-time visits, 82.4% were during the evening to morning hours (Fig. 1). There were 303 human visits and most were during the day (Fig. 2). Of the 102 first-bear visits, 52% were during the first 24 hours after baiting, and 41.2% occurred during the second 24 hours (Fig. 3). Bears repeatedly visited sites from 1 to 11 times during the course of the study (Table 1). Bears did not appear to decrease latencies or to visit re-provisioned bins faster as they visited each site more (P = 0.17, R2DISCUSSION  = 0.02, Fig. 4). Bears also did not increase sampling rates as they visited each site more (P = 0.37). Black bears exhibited a crepuscular/nocturnal activity pattern when visiting human food sources on our study site, and showed little activity during the day. The observed activity pattern at our sites differed from that reported for wildland bears in other areas where bears were typically diurnal during the summer months (Ayres et al. 1986, Beckman and Berger 2003, Lyons 2005, Matthews et al 2006), suggesting that bear activity is spatially and temporally variable. Our latency data did not indicate that bears avoided or were attracted to the sites soon after humans re-baited them. Visitation was generally delayed until the evening hours, regardless of the time of food Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  175  J. R. Boulanger, editor Table 1. Count of the number of repeated bear visits to each of 21 food-provision sites and mean number of visits during each 2-day sampling period in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, during 29 May to 30 July 2008.                                  Number of bear visits to site category  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Count of sites 21 18 17 13 10 8 7 6 3 2 1 Mean visits/period/site 3.2 3.9 3.99 3.2 2.9 3.3 3.6 5.5 2.3 5 1 Standard Error 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.3 0.5 0.8 1.6 0.4 4.0 --  replenishment. We suspect that a crepuscular/nocturnal pattern may be natural for this population during the summer months, however bear activity patterns prior to our arrival are unknown. It is possible that the bears in the La Sal mountains do not exhibit diurnal patterns due to the high day-time temperatures, as was found by Garshelis (1978).  We hypothesized that multiple bears would compete to obtain the limited food resource we provided and thus bears would learn to be faster and more efficient in obtaining the resource by visiting sooner and more frequently during the course of the study. However, we did not find evidence of shifts in bear behavior. One possible reason for the lack of behavioral shifts was that we only provided 300 g of food at each site; although the resource was desired by bears, as indicated by their numerous visits to sites, the amount of food may not have been nutritious enough to compel bears to expend the extra effort needed to obtain it. It is also possible that there was not a large number of bears competing for the resource.   MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS Bear activity and conflict will vary in space and time, but if bears maintain normal activity patterns in spite of diurnal food provisioning, targeting management strategies during specific periods that coincide with bear activity should be most effective. For example, electrified fence or other tools may be used around garbage bins at night when humans are sleeping but bears are active, and then turned off during the day when the opposite occurs. Such optimization creates a situation that maximizes the effectiveness of a specific management tool while minimizing its cost and negative influence.   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank J. du Toit and the Berryman Institute; B. Baldwin and the Tehabi Internship Program; B. Bates, G. Wallace, D. Ketron and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources for the support of this research, JB and Redd Ranch for allowing research on their land and Village and City Markets in Moab, UT for providing discarded food items for baiting purposes.  LITERATURE CITED Ayres, L. A., L. S. Chow, and D. M. Graber. 1986. Black bear activity patterns and human induced modifications in Sequoia National Park. Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  176  J. R. Boulanger, editor Proceedings International Conference on Bear Research and Management 6:151–154. Beckman, J. P., and J. Berger. 2003. Rapid ecological and behavioral changes in carnivores: the responses of black bears (Ursus americanus) to altered food. Journal of Zoology, London 261:207–212. Garshelis, D. L. 1978. Movement ecology and activity behavior of black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Thesis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Lyons, A. J. 2005. Activity patterns of urban American black bears in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California. Ursus 16:255–262. Matthews, S. M., J. J. Beecham, H. Quigley, S. S. Greenleaf, and H. M Leithead. 2006. Activity patterns of American black bears in Yosemite National Park. Ursus 17:30–40. Mazur, R., and V. Seher. 2008. Socially learned foraging behavior in wild black bears, Ursus americanus. Animal Behavior 75:1503–1508. Shivik, J. A. 2006. Tools for the edge: what’s new for conserving carnivores. BioScience 56:253–259.  Spencer, R. D., R. A. Beausoleil, and D. A Martorello. 2007. How agencies respond to human-black bear conflicts: a survey of wildlife agencies in North America. Ursus 18:217–229.    

English

Black Bear Activity and Visitation Patterns at Human Food Sources in Utah

DigitalCommons@USU

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- 
Proceedings 
Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center 
for 
2009 
Black Bear Activity and Visitation Patterns at Human Food 
Sources in Utah 
Dustin Ranglack 
Institute, Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA 
Kari Signor 
Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA 
Kevin Bunnell 
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT, USA 
John Shivik 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Department of 
Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_wdmconfproc 
 Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons 
Ranglack, Dustin; Signor, Kari; Bunnell, Kevin; and Shivik, John, "Black Bear Activity and Visitation Patterns 
at Human Food Sources in Utah" (2009). Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- Proceedings. 144. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_wdmconfproc/144 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wildlife Damage 
Management Conferences -- Proceedings by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska 
- Lincoln. 
Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  172  J. R. Boulanger, editor 
Urban Carnivores 
 
Black Bear Activity and Visitation Patterns at Human Food 
Sources in Utah 
 
DUSTIN H. RANGLACK, Berryman Institute, Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, 
Logan, UT, USA 
KARI D. SIGNOR, Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA 
KEVIN BUNNELL, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT, USA 
JOHN SHIVIK, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, 
Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA 
 
ABSTRACT Bear activity and behaviors in areas of human use or proximity require research because of significant 
and potentially dangerous conflicts between humans and bears. Previous studies in areas of the country outside of 
Utah determined that black bears (Ursus americanus) tend to exhibit diurnal or crepuscular activity patterns. 
Activity patterns, however, may be influenced by humans, especially in urbanized landscapes or in areas such as 
campgrounds where anthropogenic food resources are available. Our study objectives were to determine bear 
activity schedules and changes in visitation patterns to regularly supplied anthropogenic food sites in the La Sal 
Mountains of southeastern Utah. Using remote camera stations, we determined that bear visitation was primarily 
crepuscular and nocturnal (76.3% of visits), and bears did not visit freshly provisioned sites more quickly or more 
frequently through time. Although bear activity is different by region, provisioning food may not alter bear activity 
at supplemental feeding sites. 
 
KEY WORDS activity, black bear, human food sources, Ursus americanus, Utah, visitation patterns 
 
Black bears (Ursus americanus) frequently 
come into conflict with humans while 
obtaining anthropogenic food sources 
(Spencer et al. 2007). Bear activity is often 
destructive and potentially dangerous to 
humans as well as the bears themselves, 
because bears are frequently killed after 
coming into conflict with humans (Spencer 
et al. 2007, Mazur and Seher 2008).  
Many bears become habituated to human 
foods, especially along the urban-wildland 
interface and in campgrounds. Bear behavior 
can be influenced in a variety of ways while 
exploiting regularly available and high-value 
human food sources. For example, bears 
tend to switch from the “wild” diurnal 
pattern to crepuscular and nocturnal activity 
patterns in order to avoid times of human 
activity (Ayres et al. 1986, Beckman and 
Berger 2003, Lyons 2005, Matthews et al. 
2006).  
Bears also may compete for limited food 
supplies in wild habitats and may change 
their activity levels in response to such 
limitations and to the presence of humans. 
As bears learn that a food resource is 
regularly available in small quantities, will 
they learn to become more efficient in 
obtaining the resource?  That is, will bears 
become quicker at finding and consuming 
human food as they gain more experience, 
or will bears sample food sites more 
frequently in order to closely track the 
potential resource? 
Fine-scale assessments of bear activity 
in response to anthropogenic food sources 
are needed both in Utah and elsewhere, 
because knowing when bears are actively 
visiting sites can help managers to best 
match management methods with particular 
damage management situations (Shivik 
2006). The objective of this study was to 
describe activity patterns of a population of 
wild black bears at anthropogenic food 
Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  173  J. R. Boulanger, editor 
sources in the La Sal Mountains of Utah. 
More specifically, we hypothesized that 
bears would alter their activity patterns in 
order to more quickly obtain regularly 
supplied food and that bears would increase 
their visitation rates to sites with regularly 
provided human food. 
 
STUDY AREA 
Our study area was in the La Sal Mountains 
of southwest Utah on a combination of 
private and public lands. The La Sals were 
selected because they are relatively remote 
and low human activity enabled us to bait 
wild black bears while minimizing risk to 
public safety. The area is surrounded by a 
desert of sandstone mesas, slot canyons, and 
sagebrush flats. Mountain peaks range from 
10,895 ft to 12,721 ft. Aspen (Populus 
tremuloides), scrub oak (Quercus gambelii) 
and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) were 
the dominant plant species. High daily 
temperatures typically remain below 26° C 
but lows can be below freezing, even during 
early summer months. Beginning in July, the 
region often experiences daily 
thunderstorms and monsoon-like rainfall. 
There are several established recreation sites 
throughout the La Sals, although public 
recreation predominantly occurs along the 
southeastern section of the mountains. Our 
field experiments were conducted on the 
northeast side of the range. 
 
METHODS 
We established and baited 21 sites, all at 
least 1.6 kilometers apart, from 29 May to 
30 July 2008. Each site consisted of a 20-
gallon plastic trash bin that was bolted to a 
tree. Bins had plastic covers which were 
secured with elastic cords; covers were 
designed to allow bears to gain access, but 
to exclude other smaller species. We drilled 
holes (< 10 mm) into the bottom of the bins 
to allow water to drain and into the sides to 
allow dispersion of scent. We affixed a 
Cuddeback 
We checked and replenished sites every 
other day throughout the duration of the 
study, although on 3 occasions checks were 
delayed up to 2 days due to logistical issues 
(e.g., flat tires). We used the trail cameras to 
document the date and time of all bear visits 
to the sites. We defined a bear visit as any 
image or video of a bear that was captured 
by the infrared camera. We used site 
visitation as our dependent variable because 
damage is caused when a bear visits a site; 
consequently it was not necessary to identify 
individual bears. 
Digital motion-sensor camera 
(Non Typical, Inc., Park Falls, WI) to a tree 
facing the trash bin to monitor bear activity. 
Sites were defined using a single strand of 
barbed wire set 0.5 m high and > 0.6 m from 
the bin so that bears were forced to cross the 
wire to access the bin. Thus, hairs were 
collected to confirm bear presence in the 
event that photographic evidence was 
equivocal. We baited each site with 300 g of 
discarded baked goods that we obtained 
from local grocery stores. 
Bear and human (i.e, our visits) activity 
schedules were assessed using descriptive 
statistics. We constructed histograms to 
identify the 4-hr blocks of time that received 
the most visitation. To determine if bears 
attempted to obtain the regularly 
provisioned food more rapidly as they 
became more familiar with the sites (i.e., 
through repeated visits), we regressed the 
number of visits to the sites against the 
latency for the first bear to visit the re-
provisioned sites. We determined latency to 
visit a site by calculating the amount of time 
between the baiting event and the first bear 
visit to the site. To determine if bears began 
to sample sites more frequently as they 
became more familiar with them, we 
categorized sites by the number of times 
bears had visited them and then compared 
the mean number of bear visits per 
Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  174  J. R. Boulanger, editor 
 
Figure 1. Daily activity pattern of black bears as 
measured by bear visitation to 21 supplemental 
feeding sites in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, during 
29 May to 30 July 2008. 
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
0:01 -  4:00 4:01 -  8:00 8:01 - 12:00 12:01 - 16:00 16:01 - 20:00 20:01 - 24:00
Time of Day
M
ea
n 
# 
of
 V
is
its
 
Figure 2. Daily activity pattern of humans 
replenishing 21 supplemental feeding sites for 
black bears in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, 
during 29 May to 30 July 2008. 
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0:01 - 4:00 4:01 - 8:00 8:01 - 12:00 12:01 - 16:00 16:01 - 20:00 20:01 - 24:00
Time
N
um
be
r o
f V
is
its
 
Figure 3. Latency of bears to visit 21 supplemental 
feeding sites in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, during 
29 May to 30 July 2008. 
 
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0:0
1 -
 4:
00
8:0
1 -
 12
:00
16
:01
 - 2
0:0
0
24
:01
 - 2
8:0
0
32
:01
 - 3
6:0
0
40
:01
 - 4
4:0
0
48
:01
 - 5
2:0
0
56
:01
 - 6
0:0
0
64
:01
 - 6
8:0
0
72
:01
 - 7
6:0
0
80
:01
 - 8
4:0
0
88
:01
 - 9
2 :
00
Time Since Human Visit and Baiting
N
um
be
r o
f V
is
ts
 
Figure 4. Latency to visits to a recently provisioned 
food source by the number of times bears had 
visited sites. Data were collected from 21 
supplemental feeding sites in the La Sal Mountains, 
Utah, during 29 May to 30 July 2008. 
 
0
720
1440
2160
2880
3600
4320
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Number of Bear Visits
La
te
nc
y 
to
 N
ew
 V
is
it 
(m
in
)  
   
   
   
   
 . 
   
   
  
provisioning period to each category using 
ANOVA.  
 
RESULTS 
We recorded 376 bear visits to the feeding 
sites; 274 were repeated visits during the 
same 2-day observation period and 102 were 
first-time visits of recently provisioned food 
sites. Of the first-time visits, 82.4% were 
during the evening to morning hours (Fig. 
1). There were 303 human visits and most 
were during the day (Fig. 2). Of the 102 
first-bear visits, 52% were during the first 24 
hours after baiting, and 41.2% occurred 
during the second 24 hours (Fig. 3). 
Bears repeatedly visited sites from 1 to 
11 times during the course of the study 
(Table 1). Bears did not appear to decrease 
latencies or to visit re-provisioned bins 
faster as they visited each site more (P = 
0.17, R2
DISCUSSION 
 = 0.02, Fig. 4). Bears also did not 
increase sampling rates as they visited each 
site more (P = 0.37). 
Black bears exhibited a 
crepuscular/nocturnal activity pattern when 
visiting human food sources on our study 
site, and showed little activity during the 
day. The observed activity pattern at our 
sites differed from that reported for wildland 
bears in other areas where bears were 
typically diurnal during the summer months 
(Ayres et al. 1986, Beckman and Berger 
2003, Lyons 2005, Matthews et al 2006), 
suggesting that bear activity is spatially and 
temporally variable. 
Our latency data did not indicate that 
bears avoided or were attracted to the sites 
soon after humans re-baited them. Visitation 
was generally delayed until the evening 
hours, regardless of the time of food 
Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  175  J. R. Boulanger, editor 
Table 1. Count of the number of repeated bear visits to each of 21 food-provision sites and mean 
number of visits during each 2-day sampling period in the La Sal Mountains, Utah, during 29 
May to 30 July 2008. 
                                 Number of bear visits to site category 
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
Count of sites 21 18 17 13 10 8 7 6 3 2 1 
Mean visits/period/site 3.2 3.9 3.99 3.2 2.9 3.3 3.6 5.5 2.3 5 1 
Standard Error 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.3 0.5 0.8 1.6 0.4 4.0 -- 
 
replenishment. We suspect that a 
crepuscular/nocturnal pattern may be natural 
for this population during the summer 
months, however bear activity patterns prior 
to our arrival are unknown. It is possible that 
the bears in the La Sal mountains do not 
exhibit diurnal patterns due to the high day-
time temperatures, as was found by 
Garshelis (1978).  
We hypothesized that multiple bears 
would compete to obtain the limited food 
resource we provided and thus bears would 
learn to be faster and more efficient in 
obtaining the resource by visiting sooner and 
more frequently during the course of the 
study. However, we did not find evidence of 
shifts in bear behavior. One possible reason 
for the lack of behavioral shifts was that we 
only provided 300 g of food at each site; 
although the resource was desired by bears, 
as indicated by their numerous visits to sites, 
the amount of food may not have been 
nutritious enough to compel bears to expend 
the extra effort needed to obtain it. It is also 
possible that there was not a large number of 
bears competing for the resource. 
  
MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS 
Bear activity and conflict will vary in space 
and time, but if bears maintain normal 
activity patterns in spite of diurnal food 
provisioning, targeting management 
strategies during specific periods that 
coincide with bear activity should be most 
effective. For example, electrified fence or 
other tools may be used around garbage bins 
at night when humans are sleeping but bears 
are active, and then turned off during the 
day when the opposite occurs. Such 
optimization creates a situation that 
maximizes the effectiveness of a specific 
management tool while minimizing its cost 
and negative influence.  
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
We thank J. du Toit and the Berryman 
Institute; B. Baldwin and the Tehabi 
Internship Program; B. Bates, G. Wallace, 
D. Ketron and the Utah Division of Wildlife 
Resources for the support of this research, 
JB and Redd Ranch for allowing research on 
their land and Village and City Markets in 
Moab, UT for providing discarded food 
items for baiting purposes. 
 
LITERATURE CITED 
Ayres, L. A., L. S. Chow, and D. M. Graber. 1986. 
Black bear activity patterns and human induced 
modifications in Sequoia National Park. 
Proceedings of the 13th WDM Conference (2009)  176  J. R. Boulanger, editor 
Proceedings International Conference on Bear 
Research and Management 6:151–154. 
Beckman, J. P., and J. Berger. 2003. Rapid ecological 
and behavioral changes in carnivores: the 
responses of black bears (Ursus americanus) to 
altered food. Journal of Zoology, London 
261:207–212. 
Garshelis, D. L. 1978. Movement ecology and 
activity behavior of black bears in the Great 
Smoky Mountains National Park. Thesis, 
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, 
USA. 
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Black Bear Activity and Visitation Patterns at Human Food Sources in Utah

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