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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Superior’s bear order appears to be reducing conflicts

In a season with high numbers of bear complaints elsewhere, problems in BWCAW were down sharply

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 1/16/25

REGIONAL—This past year brought plenty of weather extremes, from a record mild winter to record June rain, followed by a worsening drought. Such conditions made it a tough one for the …

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Superior’s bear order appears to be reducing conflicts

In a season with high numbers of bear complaints elsewhere, problems in BWCAW were down sharply

Posted

REGIONAL—This past year brought plenty of weather extremes, from a record mild winter to record June rain, followed by a worsening drought. Such conditions made it a tough one for the region’s bear population, which relies heavily on natural foods that rarely produce well under extreme conditions.
The limited natural foods prompted a sharp increase in bear nuisance reports across northern Minnesota— except for within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, where a new wilderness-wide order designed to reduce human-bear interactions, may have helped keep this longstanding problem in check.
At a time when other bear problems were on the rise in the region, Superior National Forest officials report that nuisance bear complaints fell sharply within the 1.1-million-acre Boundary Waters wilderness. Fewer than ten such reports were recorded last year, just a fraction of the average of 40-50 reports experienced over the previous four years.
Forest officials note that several factors can influence the number of bear-human interactions, so they aren’t claiming the reduction was solely due to the forest order.
The order, labeled 09-09-24-02, requires all overnight campers within the BWCAW use bear-proof food containers or hang their food packs at least 12 feet in the air and six feet from the nearest tree trunk, a standard that may not be possible at all wilderness campsites. Many campers have since turned to certified bear-proof containers which are designed to block the enticing smell of foods as well as hold up against the efforts of a bear to open the containers.
While the new order was seen as a hassle by some, forest officials say it was designed to address a growing problem they were seeing with bears raiding food packs, which can seriously impact anyone’s canoe trip in the wilderness, particularly for canoeists who may be many miles into the wilderness interior.
The order is in effect annually from March 1-Nov. 30 and is not in effect December-February, when virtually all bears are in their winter dens.