Bears resort to rummaging through our food supplies when late-spring frosts destroy their natural food sources

RENO, Nev. – We get frustrated when those late-spring frosts decimate our tomato plants that we so enthusiastically planted after we thought spring had finally arrived. But, imagine if that was our only food source. Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno are documenting how, in some years, spring temperature swings are wiping out natural food sources for black bears in western Nevada’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, and forcing them to seek their sustenance from our yards and gardens, and sometimes even our pantries and chicken coops.

“We all notice when there’s a late frost, from the effects on our yards and gardens,” said Kelley Stewart, leader of the research project and professor in the University’s Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science , housed in the Col