Be bear aware

Imagine eating a whole large pizza in one sitting and not feeling full. Then finish a second large pizza and still feeling hungry. Envision that craving with no relief, day after day, for up to three months.

That is what it is like for a black bear during hyperphagia. This phase of compulsive eating, driven by unquenchable hunger, drives bears to eat unprecedented amounts of food to pack on pounds and survive up to six months in hibernation.

Now imagine that every pizza shop and store selling frozen pizzas in a 30-mile radius is closed.

That scenario is similar to what black bears are experiencing this year, after one of Colorado’s warmest winters and lowest snowpack on record has severely reduced the mammal’s normal food sources.

Warm, dry year causes reduced availability of natural food sources for bears

Vegetation energy output significantly declined this summer after the warmest winter in Colorado’s recorded history, a historically low snowpack resulted in severely reduced spring runoff, and a late spring snowstorm in May killed the few blossoms that had bloomed in some areas.

That perfect storm of reduced production of berries, fruits, nuts, grasses, and other natural food sources that black bears – and other birds and mammals – rely on in summer and fall now makes it harder for bears to survive and satiate their obsessive need to eat during hyperphagia.

With less water, insect numbers declined. Fewer insects meant birds looked for other food sources, including eating berries earlier than normal, to sustain themselves and their growing nestlings. The few berries available, such as chokecherries and raspberries, were eaten before ripening in late August, when black bears would rely on this calorie-rich food.

“For the 2025 winter and 2026 summer season, the severe drought conditions have impacted the bushes in a rather extreme way, with very few raspberries and choke and pin cherries forming almost no berries,” said Jared Gricoskie, owner and guide of Yellow Wood Guiding, a nature tour company operating in Rocky Mountain National Park for 20 years.

“It is very common for plants and animals to hold back on reproduction in harsh years to preserve condition and hold out for a better year,” said Gricoskie.

According to Rachel and Andy Ames, bear outreach advocates for the Estes Valley Watershed Coalition and a duo that has provided black bear education for ten years, black bears enter hyperphagia in late July and continue eating until little to no food remains.

They also note that temperature and precipitation affect the date of den entry, with higher temperatures and lower precipitation leading to earlier hibernation. This process usually lasts until late October or early November in the Estes Park area.

“Bears have a completely insatiable hunger during hyperphagia,” the Ameses said. “Water is also important too in the process of making fat.”

In an EVWC presentation on July 23 about living with bears, the Ameses noted that research shows black bears can consume as much as 15,000 to 20,000 calories per day. According to Andy Ames, however, that number came from research on captive bears with unlimited food; wild bears strive for that level of intake but rarely have that many resources in their diet.

This year is on track to be a record-breaking year for bear encounters

As a result of the seasonal increase in hunger and the excessive reduction of natural food sources, black bears have started exploring beyond their normal ranges in search of calories.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has reported a significant increase in human-bear interactions statewide over the past six weeks, many of them in urban areas.

• On Aug. 4, CPW officials removed a bear from a Louisville neighborhood.
• On Aug. 17, a black bear swiped at a male leaving a building laundry room near Eagle-Vail.
• Also on Aug 17, a bear wandered onto the Colorado State University campus as students moved into the dorms. CPW officers tranquilized and removed the bear.
• CPW responded to a bear encounter on a trail in Jefferson County on Aug. 21.
• On  Aug. 23, CPW removed a bear from a park near downtown Denver.
• On Aug. 27, a bear entered the home of an 80-year old woman in Estes Park. The bear knocked her down and swiped her abdomen.
• In Steamboat Springs on Sept. 5, a man was napping in a chair on his patio when a bear approached, popped his jaw, and scratched the man’s leg.
• A black bear was euthanized on Sept. 5 after CPW officers discovered its intestines so blocked with trash it could no longer digest food.
• A woman was bit through her tent in an apparent black bear attack on Sept. 11 near South Fork.
• On Sept. 13, a black bear entered a bedroom window and scratched a 17-year-old woman inside in Durango.

With the last two reports, CPW has now confirmed ten reports of bear attacks in Colorado this year, a new record for the state.

According to a Sept. 3 report by CPW, there have been 8,672 human-bear encounters and incidents across Colorado from Jan. 1, 2026 through Aug. 31, 2026, compared to 3,680 reports during that same period in 2025, a 136% increase.

Additionally, CPW reports 98 bear relocations this year compared to 33 bears relocated through Aug. 2025, and 294 bears euthanized, compared to 83 bears euthanized through Aug. 2025.

So far in 2026, reported human-bear incidents are 3.6 times the five-year average. Relocations are 3.5 times the average, and euthanizations are 2.7 times the average.

The data is significant because Colorado black bears still have one to two months remaining of their hyperphagia season.

Bears experience this natural phase in August, September and October, when they have a ravenous hunger to add weight in preparation for hibernation.

This three-month window is when CPW typically receives the most bear-related incidents. In 2025, half of the reports came in during this short season.

This year is on track to have the highest number of reported bear encounters in Colorado since CPW initiated its digital reporting system in 2019.

“With dry conditions, the bears spread farther from their home range, such as into Denver, Longmont, Louisville and Superior,” the Ameses said. “Bears have to be close to water, so they travel down ditches, creeks and rivers into the urban forest where there are watered trees and bushes. These areas may not be the preferred habitat, but there are lots of plums, apples and Russian olives on the Front Range.”

Living with black bears in Estes Valley

According to the Ameses, a 2007 study of black bears in RMNP and a buffer of about two miles around the park found only about 30 black bears because the park lacks habitat preferred by bears. Nearby mountain communities, such as Allenspark, however, have higher bear densities because they have more food sources, cover, and water.

Bears thrive in mixed coniferous and deciduous forests that support a variety of food sources. These include moist meadows, aspen groves, forest edges, dead and down trees, and abundant vegetation that produces fruits, berries, nuts and seeds.

Rocky Mountain National Park and the Estes Valley offer less food due to a short growing season, poor soils, low annual rainfall, and a lack of foods like acorns and other nuts.

Although Estes Park may not be a dense area for black bears, the statewide population is estimated to be between 17,000 and 20,000.

Gricoskie, who regularly guides in RMNP, says he usually sees only a handful of bears each year in the park.

“I only see about five to ten total bears in Rocky, usually in May and again rarely in late August to early September during berry season,” Gricoskie said. “This year I have only had three bear sightings, two in late April and mid-May, and the last in mid-July. It is just the beginning of berry season, with berries being extremely limited and no sign of bears.”

The scarcity of black bears in the region suggests the habitat does not support a large population in years with healthy food production. In poor years, like 2026, bears will become more creative in seeking out food.

The Ameses stress that prevention is key to avoiding encounters with bears and inadvertently inviting them onto a property.

• Lock home doors and windows, especially on the ground floor.
• Do not leave anything outside that a bear would consider food, such as hummingbird feeders, bird seed or pet food.
• Lock car doors and windows, and do not leave food in a vehicle.
• Close a pet door when you’re not using it. Because black bears do not have collar bones they can easily squeeze through a medium-sized pet door.

“Your actions affect all neighbors in your community,” the Ameses said. “Bears can associate. For example, they check every deck for hummingbird feeders or unlatched trash cans if they have previously found one in the area.”

CPW reminds Coloradans that “preventing bears from accessing human food is one of the most effective ways to help bears during a poor natural food year.”

In addition to being neighborly, knowingly leaving out food or edible waste that can lure bears is illegal. Colorado House Bill 26- 1342, which took effect Aug. 12, changed the legal standard for luring bears from “intentionally” to “knowingly.”

The change now allows law enforcement to issue a citation on the first offense and removes the requirement that law enforcement prove a person intended to lure a bear.

The law now allows CPW and other peace officers to decide whether a person knowingly placed food or edible waste in the open under circumstances where there is a reasonable probability it will attract a bear.

For more information about living with bears, visit CPW’s Living with Bears website.