As warming climate brings bears out of hibernation earlier, preventing backyards from becoming buffets is key to coexistence

Vermonters usually put out bird feeders to attract winged visitors who fill their yards with song and color. But they could attract a far less dainty visitor: black bears.

As bears emerge from their dens in early spring, they’re on the search for food. That can lead them to backyard beehives, birdfeeders, compost piles and even chicken coops.

“They’re super adaptable, they’re very curious, they’re always looking for the next best meal,” said Jaclyn Comeau, bear biologist at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

Reports of bear incidents in Vermont have grown steeply over the past decade, according to department data. While some of that increase can be attributed to changes that made reporting incidents easier, the rise is related to an interconnected set of factors, including changes in the state’s bear population and in human development, Comeau said.

“We have slowly been teaching our bears that our backyards are a good place to find high-calorie, easily accessible foods,” Comeau said. “They have figured that out, they’re not forgetting it, and we continue to keep reinforcing that behavior.”

The state’s bear population has grown over recent years, from between 4,000 and 6,000 bears in 2018 to between 6,500 and 8,000 bears in 2024, according to population estimates by the state. The latest count is nearly double the objective of 3,500 to 5,500 bears, as outlined by a Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department population model.

The time of year that bears emerge from their dens has also crept earlier and earlier over past decades, Comeau said, likely driven in part by a changing climate that has made Vermont winters shorter and less severe. In Vermont, the emergence has shifted about two weeks earlier over the past 15 or so years, she said, from around April 1 to mid-March.

That means Vermonters need to take steps earlier in the season to prevent bears from making a meal in their backyards, by removing or bear-proofing potential food sources.

When bears get food from human sources, they often keep coming back for more, Comeau said. That repeated behavior can lead to conflict with bears, she said, and can be passed down generationally as moms teach cubs where to look for food.

Afterall, a bear in a yard today means more bears likely in the future.

That’s especially salient in Vermont. Bears live everywhere in the state besides the Champlain Islands, according to the department.

Comeau said removing food sources early in the season can help head off conflict with bears throughout the rest of the year. That includes taking down bird feeders, storing trash and compost in bear-resistant containers and putting electric fences around chicken coops and bee hives.

Being proactive is the best way to prevent problems, Comeau said –– and to protect bears.

“Don’t wait until the bear gets into your garbage before you find a more secure way to store it. Don’t wait for the bear to hit your birdfeeder to tell you it’s time to take it in,” Comeau said. “We [humans] are playing a big role in this, and it really is up to us if we want to see less bears raiding our garbage cans and raiding our chicken coops.”

According to Tom Rogers, executive director at Stowe Land Trust, human development is a driver of increased conflict with bears – and another area where human action can help reduce conflict. Rogers previously worked on bear-human conflict with the Fish and Wildlife Department.

“We are encroaching on bear habitat more and more,” Rogers said. “As the state is becoming more developed and habitat becomes more fragmented, conflicts with bears, as with any other wildlife, are going to be more inevitable.”

With their typical habitat fragmented, bears have to pass through human-settled areas more often, Rogers said, which creates opportunities for them to learn that humans are a source of food.

Stowe Land Trust, along with other conservation organizations, is working to protect corridors of land that connect large areas of forest, such as the Shutesville Hill wildlife corridor, which connects the Green Mountains and the Worcester Range. Rogers hopes those projects will help reduce conflicts with bears, as well as benefiting a host of other species such as moose, deer and bobcats.

Rogers said Stowe has been a hot spot of bear activity in recent years, potentially due in part to out-of-state tourists who are not always aware of best practices to prevent attracting bears. He said it’s up to the local community to make sure that visitors are educated about best practices, and that bear-proof infrastructure is in place.

Climate change’s impact on Vermont winters is changing things for many other species, too, Rogers said.

Snowshoe hares and short-tailed weasels become white in the winter, which usually helps them camouflage in snow. But when snowpack comes later or disappears earlier, they’re left exposed to predators, stark white against a brown landscape.

Small mammals like voles burrow under deep snowpack, Rogers said, which helps insulate them from frigid winter temperatures. But if there’s a mid-winter melt or rainstorm, that layer of insulation can get eroded, leaving the creatures with little shelter from the elements or protection from predators.

The complex and interwoven changes wrought by climate change on Vermont’s landscape makes human choices about habitat even more important, Rogers said.

“We really need to be doing everything we can to protect the habitat that wildlife need.”

This story was republished with permission from VtDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.