Bears in Virginia

black bears are omnivores, and can live in a wide variety of habitats
Source: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Black Bear

Virginia has black bears (Ursus americanus) which range in color from light brown to dark black. There are no grizzly or polar bears in Virginia.

Black bears gorge during the Fall on acorns and whatever else they can find, then stay in a den (usually a hollow tree) during the winter. In years when oak trees produce a lot of acorns, bears travel less for food and hunters are able to harvest fewer bears.

They emerge occasionally on warm days in the winter. In the Spring, they will start ranging through their territory for food and mating. Females mate every other year, and force their cubs to "move on" after the second winter.

mothers of black bears force their cubs to find their own territories after the second winter of care
Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bear cub at Shenandoah National Park

Those young bears must find their own territory, and will appear in suburban areas. When the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is called because bears are eating at birdfeeders, dog food bowls, and garbage cans in back yards, or found wandering on the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail in Fairfax County, the state agency focuses on managing the people rather than the bears. If left alone, the bears will wander away and cause no harm. If people try to chase a bear away with sticks, shouting, and arm-waving, they may irritate the bear and get slapped.

When bears decide that a corn field offers a reliable food source, farmers can lose up to 20% of their crop. Special permits for animal damage control allow farmers to hunt bears prior to the official opening of the season, and in some cases even to kill bears at night. In 2013, the natural acorn crop was poor around Shenandoah County, and bears caused an unusual amount of damage in farm fields while looking for substitute food prior to the long winter denning. The bear population is also increasing, creating more bear-human conflicts.¹

in 2003, black bears were not residents of Northern Virginia
Source: Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

Unprovoked attacks by bears are rare. When hikers in parks and forests encounter bears, usually the bear simply moves away. Occasionally, however, a person will walk between a mother bear and her cubs, or a hiker's dog might challenge a bear. One such incident in 2014 resulted in a hiker in the George Washington National Forest getting clawed and bit, requiring a trip to the hospital in Winchester.²

Moving "problem bears" is expensive, and requires identifying an isolated location for a problem bear's new home. The National Park Service transports an average of 5-10 bears annually that were too intrusive into campgrounds at Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee/North Carolina. The bears are released in Cherokee National Forest with ear tags, but nearly 75% were never seen afterwards. The National Park Service wildlife biologist said, at the start of a project to track the bears with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars:³

We like to think they live happily ever after, but my instincts are it is probably not...

...What we want to know is: one, what happens to these bears? Two, do they cause conflicts where you put them? Three, do they stay there forever? Or are they all dying? Because if they're all dying, is it humane to move a bear that's going to be dead in three months?

black bears climb trees to find shelter, or escape hunters with dogs
Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service, American Black Bear

Bears were in Virginia before people. They migrated from Siberia about 7-8 million years ago.

The bear population declined in Virginia as farming replaced forested habitat with cropland and hayfields in the 1800's. Overhunting reduced the population to 1,000-1,500 bears before the state implemented hunting seasons and wildlife management programs in the early 1900's. The largest remaining population of black bears east of the Blue Ridge before hunting controls were implemented was in the Dismal Swamp.⁴

Abandonment of marginal agricultural lands in the 1900's, especially in mountainous areas, led to reforestation and expanded habitat suitable for bears.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries adopted Black Bear Management Plans in 2001 and 2012. They identified areas where bear populations should be managed to increase, decrease, or remain the same.⁵

Bear management was so successful that the state agency began to seek population reductions starting in 2017, similar to how restoration of deer has led to a management focus to maintain the population rather than expand it in certain counties. Hunting seasons were expanded, to prevent an excessive population growth that would become troublesome for residents. Hunting regulations require that successful bear hunters remove and send a premolar tooth to agency biologists. The teeth are used to determine the age of bears killed by hunters, and to calculate changes in the black bear population each year.

hunting is the primary management tool used to keep the black bear population in balance with the available habitat
Source: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia Bear Management Plan 2023-2032 (Figure 14) and Virginia 2022–2023 Black Bear Harvest

The population has grown from 1,000 black bears at the start of the 1900's to 18,000-20,000 bears in 2021. What is now called the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources considers the bear population to be "robust." The 2020-21 harvest of 3,464 black bears was the second highest in the history of the state, exceeded only by the harvest a year earlier.

By 2022-2023, only 2,232 bears were killed during the bear hunting seasons. The decline was expected, since populations had been reduced after firearms season expansions in 2017 and 2019. A good acorn crop also made it harder for hunters to encounter bears. An outbreak of sarcoptic mange, a skin disease, had temporarily reduced the population in the northwestern counties.⁶

Reforestation and state-led wildlife management programs have been so successful at recovering the black bear population that they are now spreading into suburban areas, even taking dips in swimming pools. A bear specialist commented in 2023:⁷

Basically, if it's not bear country now, there's a good chance it will be soon.

the expanding black bear population has expanded their range into suburbia
Source: jjjj56cp, bear on deck-- through the doors

The Virginia Black Bear Management Plan (2023–2032) identified eight "viability regions" for managing bear populations, separate from the bear zones defined for hunting regulations. A management goal was to maintain a viable bear population within each of Virginia's physiographic provinces

The 2023–2032 plan increased emphasis on facilitating human-bear coexistence, but acknowledged that long-term population viability was more important even if it exceeded the cultural carrying capacity.

state wildlife managers have defined "viability regions" in addition to "bear zones" for hunting regulations
Source: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia Bear Management Plan 2023-2032 (Figure 25)

In most areas of Virginia, residents have been tolerant of the expanding black bear population and established a leave-each-other-alone approach to large predators passing through back yards. Wildlife managers and animal control officials do not routinely capture and relocate bears in Virginia, because all of the suitable habitat away from human developments is already occupied by other bears.

Breaking-and-entering black bears are now a common problem in Virginia. Attractants such as food smells invite bears to attempt to enter houses through windows and doors. One simple solution for homeowners is to place a bowl of ammonia next to the door/window; bears find that smell to be unpleasant.

Bearwise basics for residents in bear habitat are:⁸

Never feed or approach bears. Secure your food, garbage and recycling. Remove your bird feeders when bears are active. Don't leave your pet food outside. Clean and store grills or smokers, and alert your neighbors to bear activity so they can take the same steps.

In Montana and other western states, grizzly bears are expanding from the remote high country into valleys with houses. There are no grizzlies in Virginia today and little possibility of them migrating here anytime soon, but that species creates a different level of risk. Confrontations with grizzlies are more dangerous than interactions with black bears. In western states and Canada humans are being killed and mauled annually by grizzlies, and dangerous bears are being killed in response. People with children are purchasing guard dogs that were raised previously to protect just livestock.⁹

Links

• BearWise
• Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
• Bear
• Virginia Black Bear Management Plan (2023–2032)

black bear distribution in 1983
Source: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, 2023-2032 Virginia Bear Management Plan (draft) (Figure 4)

black bear distribution in 2001
Source: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, 2023-2032 Virginia Bear Management Plan (draft) (Figure 5)

black bear distribution in 2010
Source: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, 2023-2032 Virginia Bear Management Plan (draft) (Figure 6)

black bear distribution in 2021
Source: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, 2023-2032 Virginia Bear Management Plan (draft) (Figure 7)

References

Source: Wildlife Center of Virginia, Preparing Orphaned Bear Cubs to Be Returned to the Wild