Bear encounter near Aspen drives campground tent ban
Aspen Times
Skyler Stark-Ragsdale/The Aspen Times
A close encounter between a black bear and two children has prompted the U.S. Forest Service to prohibit tents at a campground near Aspen.
The bear scratched and left puncture marks in a tent containing a boy and girl at Difficult Campground four miles east of Aspen toward Independence Pass. The children were both under the age of 12, officials estimated.
The incident occurred between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, according to a Difficult Campground host who wished to remain anonymous for personal privacy reasons.
“The bear did not get into the tent; it was curious about it, and then wandered off,” the host said. “Nobody was hurt. Nothing was destroyed.”
The children did not report the encounter to their parents, who were sleeping in the tent next to them, until the parents awoke on Tuesday morning.
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“The next morning, they were like, ‘Hey, mom, a bear was here,'” the host said, adding, “The kids were totally fine. They were a little freaked out, but they still went hiking later with their parents. They were not traumatized.”
The campground hosts that morning notified the Forest Service and their superior at American Land and Leisure, a company managing campgrounds on behalf of the Forest Service.
The Forest Service made the call to relocate or refund those who were camped in the roughly 20-plus tents at the campground on Tuesday afternoon. Campers were relocated farther toward the pass at Weller and Lincoln Gulch campgrounds, as well as campsites up the Fryingpan River Valley, among others, according to the host.
The host said there had been reports of four different bears in the past week as of Wednesday. The last sighting was on Tuesday morning.
The White River National Forest announced in a Wednesday press release that it issued a public safety order prohibiting the use of soft-sided shelters, “such as tents, pop-up tent trailers, and truck bed tent campers,” at Difficult Campground. Hard-sided campers or trailers are still allowed. The order will remain in place for the next two months, the host said.
The release also reminded campers of the White River National Forest’s existing food storage order.
“The basic rules are to keep your food, garbage, coolers, and other bear attractants in a locked hard-sided vehicle (or) the bear-resistant food lockers provided at many developed sites,” Deputy District Ranger Jennifer Schuller said in the release.
Proper food storage is important both during the day and at night, the release states.
“The black bears causing problems at Difficult have been coming onto the campground at all hours, which is not unusual for food-conditioned bears,” the release states.
More information can be found on the Forest Service’s website at FS.USDA.gov/r02/whiteriver/alerts.
The order is particularly important given last year’s extensive bear activity. Bears got accustomed to breaking into tents and coolers left around the grounds, the host said.
The host also emphasized the importance of proper storage practices given that humans are temporary guests in bears’ “backyard.”
“This is not our home, this is their home,” the host said. “They were here first. We are guests here.”
