Black Bear Sightings Are Up, Resources Are Down. SoCal Leaders Make The Case For More Wildlife Help

Black bear, coyote — even mountain lion — and other wildlife sightings and encounters have become more common in recent years, especially in L.A.’s foothill communities. That’s why city and county leaders say the state needs to double down on funding programs that educate and support cities in human-wildlife coexistence instead of letting budget cuts get in the way.

On Tuesday, L.A. County supervisors unanimously passed a motion calling on the state to take a more coordinated, regional approach to address a rise in wildlife sightings and encounters, especially with black bears in urban foothill areas. The motion also calls for more staffing and funding for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s human-wildlife conflict program, which provides support to local communities in dealing with their specific wildlife concerns.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents foothill communities along the 210 Freeway corridor, including Sierra Madre, Monrovia, Arcadia, and La Cañada-Flintridge, introduced the motion.

“We need a regional approach to minimizing encounters and helping the public understand what to do if they end up facing a black bear or other wildlife,” Barger told LAist.

She added that the goal is to also protect wildlife.

“For me, especially as someone who loves to hike and loves nature, it is important to recognize that we need to coexist,” Barger said. “This is about keeping communities safe, while also respecting wildlife.”

Funding troubles

The state’s human-wildlife conflict program is already stretched thin. There are only four human-wildlife conflict specialists currently tasked with supporting a huge swath of the Southland that includes L.A., Orange, Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Diego counties. The specially trained wildlife biologists share information with communities on how to coexist with wildlife, as well as guide city officials on local policies to aid that goal. They also collect data to better understand wildlife populations in the region and are authorized to relocate or even euthanize certain animals if necessary.

The program was formally funded in 2021, when the legislature appropriated $15 million to the California Fish and Wildlife Department, $7 million of which went to establishing the statewide Human-Wildlife Conflict Program and the current conflict specialist positions. But that one-time funding has now run out, and there’s no new money for it in the current budget proposal.

That means three out of the four human-wildlife conflict positions will be cut. The single Southern California position left will be permanently funded through existing money, according to the fish and wildlife department. 

A black bear, tagged as 162 by wildlife officials, rests on a backyard patio in La Cañada Flintridge in 2024.

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Susanne Whatley

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LAist

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“[The California Department of Fish and Wildlife] will continue to prioritize response to public safety reports, and urgent animal welfare issues just as we did before the one-time funding allocation occurred,” the department said in a statement in response to questions from LAist. “CDFW is in a better place as a result of one-time funding and we now have many educational resources, data points, and response plans that the funding provided.”

If the program “continues to show success over time, CDFW will need to work diligently to identify and expand resources and capacity,” the statement added.

But Barger said local leaders want more sustained funding for those positions now.

“I understand the governor has tough decisions to make, but this is really an issue that impacts all communities,” she said. “This is not a big ask, but the benefits, to me, far outweigh the cost.”

Two coyotes walk on the grass in Griffith Park (David McNew/Getty Images)

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“I hope that the state will allocate the resources to have these human-wildlife conflict specialists available, and I want to really focus on keeping the public who live and visit these foothill communities safe,” she added.

County supervisors are exploring other options if the state doesn’t allocate more funding, including working with San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. That could be tricky, though, because the state has authority over game species like black bears, and specially protected species such as mountain lions.

What’s behind this push?

A rise in reports of black bear sightings and incidents, particularly in Sierra Madre — a city of 11,000 people at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains — is the biggest driver behind the push for a more regional approach to wildlife in urban areas.

While injuries by black bears and other animals remain extremely rare, there have been more reported incidents in recent years. Between 2016 and 2020, four people were injured by black bears in separate incidents in Sierra Madre. Two of those required stitches.

And since 2020, Sierra Madre has seen an increase in black bear sightings and encounters. Most concerning to officials and residents was that, between 2022 and 2023, the city reported more than 70 incidents of bears getting inside homes or cars. That had not been a significant issue earlier.

As a result of resident concerns, the city has relied heavily on guidance from the state’s human-wildlife conflict specialists in handling the rise in encounters.

That guidance led to the city now rolling out bear-resistant green bins, increasing education to residents on how to live safely with black bears, and a plan to launch a volunteer-run wildlife watch program, a community-based model that has seen success in black bear hot spots such as Lake Tahoe and Mammoth.

The city also passed a resolution urging the state to do more to manage the black bear population, and has sent its own letter to the state asking that the human-wildlife conflict program be better funded.

Are there really more bears?

No one really knows exactly why it seems like we’re seeing more black bears in foothill communities, but it’s likely a combination of factors. 

A black bear hangs out in a neighborhood in Sierra Madre in May 2024.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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The pandemic is likely a part of it — more people work at home and see bears. Some experts believe bears may be spending more time in urban areas due to more extreme fire, heat and drought in the last 15 years. There’s also the obvious: for years, communities like Sierra Madre have provided a smorgasbord of unsecured trash cans, enticing fruit trees and pools for bears to cool down in. 

State wildlife officials also say black bear populations have grown significantly since the mid-1900s. The state estimates there are now more than 60,000 black bears in California. Ninety percent of them are in the northern and eastern part of the state, but experts believe populations in Southern California are growing too. 

A caveat — the data for Southern California is a lot less reliable than the data up north. That’s because these estimates come from hunting data and very little black bear hunting happens down in the Southland. 

Get ready for our new wildlife podcast series

Speaking of bears…

In July, LAist will be launching a new season of our Imperfect Paradise podcast on this very topic. Each episode will focus on one animal living among us — mountain lions, coyotes and black bears.

As someone who lives in Sierra Madre and has experienced the bear activity firsthand, I reported the episode about black bears. While black bears used to be more like celebrity sightings, according to long-time residents I’ve spoken with, things have changed in just the last five to 10 years.

Bears are now a far more regular presence than they used to be. Since the weather has started to warm up this year, I’ve seen our local black bears on a near-daily basis. So if you want to learn more about the bears in town — and what us people are making of them — stay tuned for the July launch of our series “Imperfect Paradise: Lions, Coyotes and Bears.”