attacked two hikers<\/a> 400 miles away in Yellowstone.<\/p>\nChris Servheen, the former national grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told Outside<\/em> that the attacks don\u2019t indicate an uptick in bear population or aggressive bear behavior. The events underscore the importance of staying bear-aware in grizzly country.<\/p>\n\u201cThat\u2019s why everybody should maintain good security and bear-wise behavior at all times. The bears may not affect you, but they may affect a person who comes into that site after you,\u201d Servheen said.<\/p>\n
Our impact on the landscape doesn\u2019t stop when we leave it, Servheen said. Food, garbage, and other scented items, such as toiletries and gasoline, also attract bears. When campers leave these items behind, bears begin to associate a camp with food.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat people do historically at these campsites is really important because we can train a bear to do the wrong thing, even though we\u2019re not there,\u201d Servheen said. \u201cAnything you do will affect how bears use that site for a long time. You teach them to come there because you left food, left it sloppy, and you\u2019ve created a problem for the next person.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Carbella Recreation Site is a heavily used boating launch point for floating the Yellowstone River through Paradise Valley. Morgan Jacobsen, spokesperson for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP), told Outside<\/em> that the decision to restrict soft-sided tents was made in part because the area is so popular amongst visitors and locals alike.<\/p>\n\u201cWhat we have are high densities of grizzly bears and a lot of human visitation and use, both for recreation and for people who live here and work out of here,\u201d Jacobsen said. \u201cIt continues to be a place with a lot of bears and a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Food storage requirements are also in place at many popular camping and hiking sites across the state where grizzly bear populations are high. These often mean packing food in a storage bin or canister, or hanging food from a tree when camping.<\/p>\n