Friends of the Smokies gets bear management grant
Proactive bear management in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park got a boost thanks to a $4,000 grant Friends of the Smokies landed from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
The money will support food storage cable repairs at campsites and shelters along the Appalachian Trail on its way through the park. Grant funds come from the ATC’s specialty license plate sales in North Carolina. Proceeds go toward materials to repair the cables, as well as seasonal staff and two wildlife interns to assist with cable repairs and other aspects of bear management and monitoring.
Park biologists estimate there are more than 1,500 black bears in the park, a population density of two bears per square mile. Since 2006, more than 60 percent of A.T. shelters in the Smokies have experienced some form of human-bear conflict annually. Food storage cables help reduce that conflict.
