Suggestions for residents occupying black bear habitat:
-Don’t leave food out that bears can get into. Keep pet food and livestock feed indoors.
-Store garbage in cans with tight fitting lids and store cans in your garage or shed until pick-up day.
-Wash barbecue grills immediately after use, and keep any fish parts and meat waste in your freezer until they can be disposed of properly.
-Lastly, enclose any beehives and fruit trees in chain-link or electric fencing where practicable to prevent depredation.

Advice for those recreating in bear country:
-Hike in small groups and make enough noise to prevent surprising a black bear. Avoid hiking alone.
-Keep small children close to the group, preferably in plain sight just ahead of you.
-Do not approach dead animals.
-Keep a clean camp. Do not leave a pet tethered at your campsite.
-Avoid hiking with a dog (it may disturb a bear and lead it back to you)
-Be aware of your surroundings, particularly when hiking in forested areas. Look for tracks, droppings, and feeding signs, such as overturned rocks, peeled trees, or torn-open stumps indicating that bears are in the area. If you find yourself in an active bear area, move through quickly.
-Put garbage, including soiled diapers and tampons, in bear proof trash containers, or pack it out in double plastic bags.
-Reduce attractant odors by storing meat, other foods, horse pellet, and pet foods in double plastic bags. Store food in a pack, and hang it from a tree branch at least 10 feet above the ground, and four feet from the tree trunk.
-Avoid cooking smelly or greasy foods. Sleep at least 100 yards from your cooking and food storage site. Store cooking clothes with food.
-Dispose of fish entrails by puncturing the air bladder and dropping the entrails in deep or rapidly running water.

Tips for encounters with Black Bears:
-Stay calm and avoid direct eye contact, which could elicit a charge. Try to stay upwind and identify yourself as human by standing up, waving your hands above your head, and talking.
-Do not approach the bear, especially if cubs are around. Give the bear plenty of room and slowly back away. Leave the bear an escape route at all times. If you are too close, a black bear may bluff charge, although it is highly unlikely the bear would touch you. Running is a poor response, as this may elicit the bear’s chase instinct.
-If you cannot safely move away from the bear and the bear doesn’t flee, then try to scare it away by aggressively clapping your hands, or yelling.
-In the unlikely event that a black bear should attack you, fight back aggressively using your bare hands or any object you can reach. As a last resort, should the attack continue, protect yourself by curling into a ball or lying flat on the ground on your stomach and playing dead. Do not look up or move until the bear is gone.