WE WILL UPDATE WHEN THE BEAR SAFARI DATE HAS BEEN FINALIZED!

Learn about black bears in the wild, enjoy a sumptuous gourmet meal and support the North Bay Bear Collaborative. Tickets are very limited, so get yours now.

Get Your Bear Safari Tickets Here

Your Day

We will explore remote areas of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park looking for bear sign and habitat. The lucky few Bear Safari participants will learn how to identify scat, bedding places and nursery trees.  Participants will hike 3-5 miles over sometimes rough terrain.   After the hike, the group will enjoy a locally sourced and foraged gourmet lunch–foraged outside of the park–served al fresco in a spectacular setting.

Your Guides

Your guides are Megan Walla Murphy, a renowned researcher and tracker, and Coby Leibman, a tracker and foraging-focused Chef.

Our Cause

North Bay Bear Collaborative
Keeping North Bay Bears Wild and Healthy

As the North Bay’s black bear population grows, challenges may arise managing the bear-human relationship.  Simply put, humans have forgotten how to live with bears in relative peace.

The North Bay Bear Collaborative (NBBC) is a working group of public agencies, non-profit conservation groups, landowners, and individuals committed to proactively addressing these potential challenges.  Through research, community outreach and infrastructure improvements, the NBBC’s goal is to keep both our human and bear populations safe and resilient.  We have forgotten our bear culture.

DNA Research Project

Wildlife cameras and other evidence show increasing numbers of black bears moving into broader areas of Sonoma and Napa counties. But how many are there?  Where are they are living?  From where did they migrate, and how are they related?

The NBBC’s DNA research study is designed to begin answering these questions.  Teams of researchers and volunteers will look for bear scat (feces) and fur across 16 plots of 16 square kilometers in Napa and Sonoma counties.  Researchers at UC Davis will then perform genetic analysis on the samples the teams collect.

This research is vital to understanding our local bears and identifying proactive steps we can take to reduce potential human-bear conflicts.

NBBC Members

• Napa Land Trust
• Sonoma Land Trust
• Audubon Canyon Ranch
• Sonoma County Open Space
• Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue
• Recology North Bay

Please Support Our Work!
Get Your Bear Safari Tickets Here