Human and Black Bear Interactions in Buncombe County, North Carolina, from 1993–2013

Over the past 20 years the frequency of interactions between humans and black bears in Buncombe County, North Carolina has been increasing, posing threats to human safety, black bear populations, ecological stability, and conservation support. During this time, both the human population and the American black bear population increased in southern Appalachia, which, combined with both urban expansion and landscape fragmentation, led to an increase in human and black bear interactions. Reducing future interactions with black bears is important as these interactions put support for conservation at risk. I performed a landscape analysis to better understand where human and black bear interactions occurred in this county from 1993–2013. After performing statistical analyses, I concluded that landscape fragmentation and urban characteristics likely played a role in where human and black bear interactions took place. Results of this statistical analysis were that human population density, proportion of forested landscape per block group, urban edge density, and the effective forest mesh size per census tract had statistically significant relationships with the geographic distribution of human and black bear interactions. This research can assist planning and conservation initiatives that aim to reduce human and wildlife interactions. This research will also contribute to the growing literature on human and wildlife interactions and the spatial analysis techniques employed to understand them.