Fall is critical month for bears

This is the third article in our Bear Smart series for residents of the Clearwater Valley. We invite everyone interested to join our community-wide efforts to reduce bear-human conflicts. Our first article summarized the mission and efforts of the Clearwater Bear Smart Working Group and our second article explained the Bear Smart community concept and the history of the Bear Smart movement.

Let’s focus now on how September and October are critical months for bears. During fall bears need to maximize their body condition (fat) in order to survive hibernation. This period of extreme eating is ca...