Bear sightings are becoming more common in northeast Alabama. Historically, Alabama’s black bear population only occurred in the southwest portion of the state, primarily in Mobile, Washington, and Clarke counties. The bears of this region of the state are of a Florida subspecies. While in low numbers here, they are quite abundant throughout many areas of Florida.
In recent years, however, black bears have steadily immigrated into northeast Alabama from northwest Georgia, primarily to DeKalb, Cherokee, and Etowah counties, and have established a small, but viable population in this region of the state. While these bears look very similar to the Florida bear, they are classified as a different subspecies, the American Black Bear. In addition to these core areas, sporadic bear sightings have been documented in other areas throughout the state, which may indicate that Alabama’s black bear populations are slowly increasing.
Summer is the time of year that young males are on the move, and they might pass through your property. If you see one, there’s no need to be alarmed! Just leave it alone, and it will leave you alone.
Black bears have slowly been returning to northeastern Alabama, where the 15,000 acres of Little River Canyon National Preserve run along the ridge tops, of northeast Alabama. Folks are seeing something that hasn’t been present in this county for more than a century: the American Black Bear.
Little River Canyon National Preserve, located above Fort Payne, has become home to a small but growing population of black bears. This park protects one of the Southeast’s deepest canyons as well as one of the nation’s longest mountaintop rivers. Thinly populated with farms and plenty of public parklands, the region’s rugged wilderness also provides just the right habitat for bear.
This keystone species has been absent regionally since the early 1900s when bears were nearly hunted into extinction, but bear sightings have become more common in recent years.
The fact that bears are finding suitable habitats to establish home ranges here is of interest to Alabama’s wildlife biologists. Little River’s craggy, sandstone gorge provides thousands of acres of wilderness to roam and is pockmarked with caves, the perfect habitat for denning.
Bears need between three and 15 square miles as a home range, females requiring less space, males requiring more. A bear’s diet, an omnivorous mix of berries, insects, grasses, acorns, and the occasional small mammal, is also readily available in the Little River National Preserve.
According to Little River Canyon Facilities Manager and acting Superintendent, Wade Lewis, a 2015 census indicated 25 to 30 bears in the region. Now that number ranges between 35 and 50. They’re more likely to be at higher elevations because that’s where they can avoid humans and find the right habitat.
Just how many bears this region can support is an open question. But biologists hope to learn more. They’ll be tracking the bears’ denning behavior and cub survival rate via a $1.1 million grant from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. It funds a five-year study, which began in October 2018. Using radio collars, researchers will be catching and tagging several bears through the summer of 2019, so biologists will be able to gain more knowledge about their movements across this rugged land.
Bears are typically shy and elusive, which makes tracking them difficult. It’s easier to find the dens when bears are moving and defecating; you follow the pathway. Lewis admits that during his time at the park, he’s never seen a bear.
The Little River flows atop Lookout Mountain, meandering 23 miles from the confluence of the East and West Fork rivers near Mentone, through the canyon before emptying into Weiss Lake south of the park. The National Park Service calls Little River Canyon “one of the most extensive canyon and gorge systems in the eastern United States and one of the South’s clearest, wildest waterways.” At 400 feet, it also qualifies as the deepest canyon in the Southeast.