Proper Food Storage at Lake Tahoe Campgrounds Make Soon Be Required

Due to the rise in human - bear conflicts at Lake Tahoe campgrounds, the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the Forest Service (LTBMU) has proposed an order to require visitors to properly store food and refuse in a container designed to prevent access by black bears and other wildlife.

Bears quickly learn to expect to find food at previously successful locations and have altered their behaviors in response to human sources of food. Bears habituated to human food will also forage preferentially on human food, even when wildland food is available.

Eliminating the source of habituation (human food and refuse) is expected to reduce the number of bears that become habituated to human food sources at Forest Service developed recreation sites, thereby reducing the potential to create “problem” bears. The frequency of black bear-human conflicts at Forest Service developed recreation sites is also anticipated to decline over the long term by issuing and enforcing a Forest Order that would require visitors to properly store food and refuse.

Bear-resistant facilities such as auto-locking refuse dumpsters and
food lockers would be installed at LTBMU developed recreation sites to prevent wildlife access to food and refuse. The initial implementation locations of Fallen Leaf Campground and Meeks Bay Resort and Campground will be prioritized over others due to the high rates of human-bear conflicts occurring at those sites.

This proposed decision has entered the public comment phase and people can comment until mid-August. Objections must be submitted to the reviewing officer: Randy Moore, Regional Forester, USDA Forest Service; Attn: Food and Refuse Storage Forest Order project; 1323 Club Drive, Vallejo, CA 94592. Phone (707) 562-8737. Objections may be submitted via mail, FAX (707-562-9229), or delivered during business hours (M-F 8:00am to 4:00pm). Electronic objections, in common (.doc, .pdf, .rtf, .txt) formats, may be submitted to: objections-pacificsouthwest-regional-office@fs.fed.us with Subject: Food and Refuse Storage Forest Order project.