Reported black bear sightings increased dramatically in Western North Carolina in the 19 years between 1998 and 2017.
Contributing factors include easy access to garbage in towns and cities a large uptick in land development in the Western North Carolina region that has pushed bears out of their natural habitats in serach for food.
1998: 107
2017: 679
There are six factors that enable bears to thrive:
Access to food
Access to water
Escape Cover
Den sites
Travel corridors
Enough space to exist
NM420 Parallax Demo with embedded maps
Note: This is a demo, not an exemplary approach to the project. See previous students' work for project examples (ie: wildfires 2017 projects).
Sources:
Olfenbuttel, Colleen. "North Carolina Black Bear Annual Report: Updated with 2017 Data". pg. 79. Available at: https://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Learning/documents/Profiles/Mammals/NCWRC_Annual_Bear_Report%20%28data%20through%202017%29.pdf
Warwick, Adam. "Black Bears and Forest Management on the Grandfather" in Grandfather Restoration Project:
A Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. Feb. 21, 2017. Available at: https://grandfatherrestorationproject.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/forest-restoration-on-the-grandfather-and-how-it-affects-black-bears/
Images:
Bear cub image available at: : https://pixnio.com/fauna-animals/bears/black-bear-cub
Black bear walking: WLOS, "Bear euthanized after body of missing Tennessee man found". Available at: https://cbs12.com/news/nation-world/bear-euthanized-after-body-of-missing-tennessee-man-found
Smokey the bear image available from Ohio River Trail Council: http://membership.ohiorivertrail.org/index.php/2014-10-08-02-06-24/2-uncategorised/224-smokey-bear