[Tennessee Trails News] Bears at South Cumberland State Park

[The Tennessee Trails List]

 From the Friends of South Cumberland:

MONTEAGLE -- August 15, 2009  The Friends of South Cumberland Board met 
today for our scheduled quarterly meeting.  Park Manager John Christof 
advised the board that a local property owner's game feeding stand 
photographed a black bear not too far from the Collins Gulf entrance to 
the park.  Ranger George Shinn advised that he and other rangers have 
seen bear scat, tracks and other signs in Collins Gulf, along the 
Connector Trail and in the vicinity of Hobbs Cabin within the past week. 
  It appears that there might be three different animals.

Camping and cooking in bear country, and storing a food cache, requires 
different safety precautions than normal backpacking and camping.  The 
most common close encounters between bears and people in the wilderness 
almost all relate to the presence of food.

The National Park Service has an excellent write up here related to 
bears and bear behavior in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/black-bears.htm

If you see a bear at South Cumberland during your visit, please report 
the time and location to a Ranger.

Ranger George Shinn is presently talking with other Tennessee state 
parks who have bears and I expect South Cumberland will have some 
written guidelines and recommendations in the very near future.