Cultivating a Bear Culture in the North Bay

The North Bay Bear Collaborative is a working group of agencies, non-profit conservation groups, landowners and individuals committed to being proactive liaisons between humans and bears. Our aim is to mitigate future challenges that may arise from the North Bay’s increasing black bear population.

Keeping North Bay Bears Wild and Healthy

As the North Bay’s black bear population grows, challenges may arise managing the bear-human relationship. The North Bay Bear Collaborative (NBBC) is a working group of public agencies, non-profit conservation groups, landowners, and individuals committed to addressing these potential challenges proactively. Through research, community outreach, and infrastructure improvements, the NBBC’s goal is to keep our human and bear populations safe and resilient.

Our Mission & Approach

Our mission includes public messaging and outreach to teach people how to live among bears safely, including guidance on avoiding the kind of attractive nuisances likely to lure wild animals into neighborhoods. In addition, we will teach people to be better stewards of our open spaces. Black bears are emblematic of wildness, needing a mosaic of diverse habitats to survive. By building resilient and biodiverse habitats, we help bears to stay wild, in our open spaces, and out of our neighborhoods. To ensure longevity and increase awareness, we will be offering teen internships in wildlife conservation, monitoring, and historical ecology.

NBBC is also improving the infrastructure of our regional and state parks. We will be installing bear-proof trash cans and food storage containers in campgrounds and backcountry sites.

Beyond outreach and infrastructure, we are collecting data to map the range of North Bay black bears. This will help us to better understand their dispersal patterns. We hope in the future to begin a DNA study to determine how individual bears are genetically related to one another.

Questions?  Please email us HERE.

NBBC Fall Gathering

As the Bears slow down for winter, let’s all gather to discuss what we have done this year and talk about the future.  We will share some of our findings and how the scat survey went.

This year, thanks to Bill Miller and CA State Parks, we are holding it at the fabulous Petaluma Adobe. 

Please bring some food to share and join us.  However, do not bring alcohol, as our permit does not allow it.  

Location:  Petaluma Adobe, Picnic Area.  3325 Adobe Rd, Petaluma, CA 94954

Location:

Petaluma Adobe, Picnic Area.  3325 Adobe Rd, Petaluma, CA 94954

When:
Nov. 23rd, 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM

What to Bring:

– Folding chair if you prefer to a picnic table.  

– Something to share (see the sign-up) 

What to Expect:

– Learn about what we have this year, surveys

– Latest bear news from the area

– Where we want to go next year

– Bear Talk with other NBBC fans

If you have questions on the signup, please get in touch with John Roney at john@sonomaecologycenter.org.

Click on this link to find out more details and to sign up.

Take good care, and we hope to see you soon.

Our Partners