It's against the law to feed bears. The law states, "No person may intentionally feed a moose, bear, wolf, fox, coyote, or wolverine, or negligently leave human or pet food or garbage in a manner that attracts these animals." It is also against the law to kill a bear you have attracted by improperly storing human food, animal food, or garbage.

A fed bear is a dead bear. Bad habits are hard to break and bears are creatures of habit. Bears seek out the same wild foods in the same places year after year. Bears conditioned to eating human food behave the same way. They keep returning to the same neighborhoods, campgrounds, and dumpsters, until food is no longer available or until they are killed.

Remember: food conditioned bears can be aggressive. A person who allows bears to feed on improperly stored food or garbage may well be putting other people at risk.

Bears like garbage. Garbage is both nutritious and available, which makes it ideal bear food.

Preventing bear problems is everyone's responsibility. Work within your neighborhood and community to encourage others to manage their garbage, dog food, birdseed - anything that might attract a bear. Encourage your neighbors not to put out garbage for pickup the night before. If there is a bear in the neighborhood, let people know. Work together to protect your neighborhood and to conserve bears.

Store garbage and animal feed inside secure buildings or in bear-proof containers. Keep your garbage secured until just before scheduled pickup. If you take your garbage to a collection site, do so regularly. Make sure to place it IN THE DUMPSTER and close the lid. These collection sites attract bears.

Pack your garbage out. At your weekend cabin, keep your garbage in a bear-proof container such as a steel drum fitted with a locking lid and take it home with you. If you bury or burn your garbage, it may still attract bears.

Bears like pet food, horse feed, meat scraps, and fish. Keep then in a secure place. Barbecues can also be powerful attractants. Storing them in a protected place and burning off grease after each use helps to discourage bears.

Place your garden so it doesn't attract bears. Placing your garden in the open, away from cover and game trails, helps to discourage bears. Avoid composting anything you think a bear might like to eat. Fish and meat are favorites, and seaweed and kelp have enough fishy smell to attract hungry bears.

Domestic animals draw bears. Keep them where they are safe. Chickens and rabbits kept in outside pens are easy and attractive prey.

Bears, especially black bears, like birdseed and suet. Don't feed birds between early April and late October. Clean up uneaten food and seed huffs each spring when you put your feeders away.

Electric fences can be effective. If used properly, electric fences can keep bears out of gardens and compost piles. They can also protect cabins and domestic animals.

Taken from Living In Harmony with Bears, a project of the Alaska State office of the National Audurbon Society. Distributed by the Cooper Landing Bears Alive Coalition.

Plan how to keep food and bears seperate before you start out. Bear-proof containers should be part of every canping trip in bear country.They are available at major outdoor stored and are required equipmant for backpackers in most national parks.

Keep a clean camp. Don't leave unattended food where bears can get to it. If possible hang your food where bears can't reach it in bear-proof containers. If you leave camp, don't leave anything a bear might like to eat. If food or garbage cannot be secured it should be placed far away from human and bear activity.

Cook where you can see. This gives you time to see bears at a distance. Plan what you would do if a bear approached while you were cooking dinner. It helps to keep track of wind direction, as bears are more likely to approach from downwind. Many experienced outdoors people eat early so that they'll still be awake if a bear comes to investigate dinner smells. Some backpackers even stop and cook enroute to their campsite so that there are no food odors where they sleep.

Don't cook smelly foods. Bacon can bring in bears from a long way - especially if they've had it before. Bears have an incredible sense of smell. Not only do bears react to scents they come upon accidentally: they purposefully use their noses to "search" for food.

Don't sleep where you eat and cook. Moving off 100 yards or more is helpful. Keep snacks, toothpaste, cosmetics, and any clothing that has been soiled by food or game butchering out of your tents and with your food supply.

Don't fish around bears. Do not fish when bears are close enough to notice a fish splashing on your line. This may mean a distance of several hundred yards or more. If bears are fishing where you want to fish, sit down and do some bear watching. Don't let bears get your fish. If you make a mistake and a bears runs after the salmon you have hooked - cut it loose. Bears are quick to associate fishermen with easy fishmeals. If you clean fish next to a salmon stream you are likely to attract gulls. Be aware that bears know calling, circling, or feeding gulls mean food. They may come at a run. Always discard fish guts into the water, and place butchered fish in plastic bags. Keep your catch with you. Do not leave it unattended on the stream bank.

Taken from Living In Harmony with Bears, a project of the Alaska State office of the National Audurbon Society. Distributed by the Cooper Landing Bears Alive Coalition.

Be prepared. Plan how you are going to react when you meet an inquisitive, intelligent, and potentially dangerous animal in the backcountry - or in your neighborhood.

Be predictable Many bears in Alaska have has interactions with people. As our population increases this number will grow. What a bear learns in one encounter influences what it does in the next. Try to make every encounter positive - for you and the bear. If we want bears to be non-threatening and predictable, it is important that we reciprocate.

Be careful. Bears don't like to be surprised. If you are hiking in a place where you can't see, make your presence known by talking or clapping your hands. If you are hunting you will probably be walking very quietly. Move slowly and be especially alert.

Travel with a group. While this isn't always practical, the larger the group the smaller the risk of attack. Groups of people seem to intimidate bears. Bears are more likely to approach one or two people than larger groups. Keep close together. Being strung out along a trail created many groups of one.

Don't approach bears. Moving towards a bear is aggressive behavior - it forces the bear to react. If you inadvertently approach a bear and feel the bear is not aware of your presence, take advantage of the situation and slowly move away. Carefully watch to make sure the bear is not following.

A bear may approach you for different reasons. It might be habituated or used to people and simply walking by at a distance it is comfortable with. The bear may be curious. You may be on its trail. You may be in the bear's personal space, and it feels threatened. It may want your food. A female bear may perceive you as a threat to her cubs. A bear may want to dominate you and, in extremely rare circumstances, investigate you as potential prey.

Making eye contact with a bear is unlikely to influence the bear or to affect the outcome of an encounter. It is important to keep the bear in sight so that you give yourself the opportunity to detect important visual clues to the bear's behavior.

Keep calm. If a bear approaches, keep calm. It is assessing the situation as it moves towards you. It's picking up clues as fast as you are giving them. If you get exited, the bear could too. It may change from being curious to being frightened. A mother with cubs may change from defensively keeping you away, to becoming highly stressed and going on the offensive - attacking in a punishing display.

Identify yourself as human and don't run. If a bear becomes increasingly stressed and aggressive, talk to it in a low voice. Don't run. Bears can go about 35 mph - even the fat ones!

Increase your distance. Bears avoid antagonistic encounters by moving away from one another. If the bear is not moving towards you, very cautiously try to move away. If your movement causes the bear to move towards you, stop and hold your ground. When you do this you are using body language to say, "don't mess with me."

Bears may come quite close. Bears may come close as they threaten and decide what to do. If we behave correctly, identifying ourselves, standing ground, or giving the bear room, the bear will make the right decision - sometimes not as quickly as we would like - and move off.

If a bear persists and continues towards you - hold your ground. The bear is interested in you or something you have, and may cause you bodily harm. Yell and wave your arms or anything handy. You are trying to tell the bear you are not intimidated. Groups of people should stand shoulder to shoulder to project a larger presence.

Most charges stop short of contact if you react appropriately. A head down, open-mouthed, running charge is a bear's trump card. It is a defensive reaction to a perceived threat. The bear is telling you that it is highly stressed and you are in the wrong place. Charges happen so quickly there isn't much time for reaction. A charge almost always ends short of contact.

If a bear attacks. If and only if a bear makes physical contact, fall to the ground on your stomach and protect your face and neck. If the bear rolls you over, try to get back into this position. The bear is almost certainly making a defensive attack and will stop when it feels it has eliminated any threat. When the bear stops, keep as still and quiet as possible. Stay that way until you believe the bear has left the area. Movement and sound can initiate new attacks. If the attack persists and the bear continues to bite long after you assume a defensive posture, it is likely making a predatory attack. Fight back vigorously.

If you can positively identify the bear as a black bear do not drop to the ground. Fight back as if your life depends on it - at this point it may. You are almost certainly involved in a predatory attack and the bear is trying to kill you. Try to focus your attack on the bear’s eyes and nose.

If a bear of either species attacks you in your tent, fight back!

Deterrents. Pepper spray is a legitimate tool. However, due to misinformation it can give people a false sense of security. The effect of pepper spray in different situations in uncertain. It should not be used as an alternative to preventative measures and common sense. If you take pepper spray into the field, know its limitations and how to use it. If used incorrectly, pepper spray can disable a user. In certain situations pepper spray has been known to be an attractant, with bears actually licking at and rolling in spray residue. Pepper sprays are designed to be sprayed at bears as close range, not on tents, airplane floats, boats, and cabins - places where we don't want bears to visit or chew on.

Taken from Living In Harmony with Bears, a project of the Alaska State office of the National Audurbon Society. Distributed by the Cooper Landing Bears Alive Coalition.