Bear activity is increasing in the valleys of northwest Wyoming and the potential for conflicts is “really high,” officials say.

On May 9, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department relocated a 400-pound male grizzly after it killed a cow calf on a ranch near Dubois. Game and Fish bear management officer Brian DeBolt said officials moved the bear to an area on the Shoshone River west of Cody.

Still, DeBolt said the season is off to a slow start in terms of actual conflicts despite the heavy snowpack and increasing bear activity in northwest Wyoming, including Jackson Hole.

“We’ve sure got a lot of bear activity down on the valley floors,” he said. “The high country is pretty snowed in. The potential for conflicts is really high.”

DeBolt said part of the reason for the lack of bear conflicts is that people have been careful to keep human food sources such as garbage, dog food and bird seed locked up or out of reach.

“People are doing a pretty good job so far,” he said. “We hope it stays that way.”

Wyoming Game and Fish bear managers responded to more than 200 bear conflicts last year, surpassing the total for the previous five years combined.

In 2007, bear management officials in northwest Wyoming captured more than 40 black and grizzly bears in response to conflicts or in pre-emptive efforts to avoid conflicts. Of those, 12 (nine black, three grizzly) bears had to be euthanized because they were conditioned to humans, human food or both.

Mark Bruscino, bear management officer with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said so far this year a bear has damaged a building in the Gros Ventre area. Game and Fish bear biologist Mike Boyce said one black bear was found in a “bad spot” west of town, and another south of town.
 
A fourth bear was seen moving through residences near Jackson Hole Airport. In all cases, the bear moved on before wildlife managers could respond.

In Grand Teton National Park, a grizzly bear family has been seen around homes near Ditch Creek. Officials say the family could be grizzly bear No. 399 and her three cubs, who have become celebrities with bear watchers because of their preference for roadside habitat near Jackson Lake Lodge.

Bruscino said lingering snowfall has “hemmed in” some country that might normally be open for bears in spring. “There’s probably fewer food sources available [early] this year,” he said.

But the heavy snowpack could mean more food later. Barring a late-season frost, Bruscino said, more moisture could mean a good berry crop this year, which could help reduce conflicts. Regardless, bear staples such as grasses and sedges should be in abundance.