{"id":573335,"date":"2026-04-09T06:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T06:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/573335\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T06:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T06:31:14","slug":"habitat-loss-from-development-pushes-more-black-bears-into-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/573335\/","title":{"rendered":"Habitat loss from development pushes more black bears into the city"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 Black bears naturally thrive in heavily forested environments with dense vegetation and access to water. But as construction expands into those areas, their habitats are being disrupted and, in many cases, reduced.<\/p>\n<p><p>WLOS<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir habitat kind of needs to be a wide range of different elements and complexities, which our mountains provide,\u201d WNC Nature Center\u2019s Animal Wellness Coordinator Chesley Hollander said of bears.<\/p>\n<p>As more roads and homes are built, bears are increasingly pushed closer to humans.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/features\/bear-week\/north-carolina-first-land-bridge-help-bears-wildlife-appalachian-trail-hikers-cross-nc-143-safely-stecoah-gap-corridor-k-ncdot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NORTH CAROLINA&#8217;S FIRST LAND BRIDGE WILL HELP BEARS AND HIKERS CROSS NC-143 SAFELY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are unfortunately their biggest predators, and that\u2019s because we are driving around in their habitats, we\u2019re developing in their homes and trees,\u201d Hollander added.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"SPRING 2026 - Construction in southern Buncombe County. (Photo: WLOS Staff){p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ed091092-1941-4613-b5ff-b822ed6b3c4c-01_00_16_23.jpg\"\/>SPRING 2026 &#8211; Construction in southern Buncombe County. (Photo: WLOS Staff)<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, North Carolina\u2019s black bear population has grown significantly \u2014 more than quadrupling over the past two decades to an estimated 20,000 bears statewide. With shrinking habitats and a growing population, sightings in urban areas are becoming more common.<\/p>\n<p>While experts say that it is impossible to stop all development, there are other ways to support bear populations in western North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccommodating for the natural space, allowing for the forest areas to happen, providing natural forging options for them in landscaping, things like that,\u201d Hollander said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/features\/bear-week\/bearwise-warns-secure-trash-pet-food-bird-feeders-spring-activity-rises-cubs-mama-bears-north-carolina-wnc-wildlife-bear-week-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">BEARWISE WARNS: SECURE TRASH, PET FOOD AND BIRD FEEDERS AS SPRING BEAR ACTIVITY RISES<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Custom home builder Brian Sineath, owner of Sineath Construction, says certain communities have implemented rules to limit human interactions with the bears.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"FILE IMAGE - Black bear in western North Carolina. (WLOS){p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3407f74d-63c9-4c06-9e73-247cae6fc73d-01_01_07_51.jpg\"\/>FILE IMAGE &#8211; Black bear in western North Carolina. (WLOS)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome communities you have to keep the dumpsters covered, or signage up that&#8217;s saying no food trash, and we try to police that very closely,\u201d Sineath added.<\/p>\n<p>Sineath says preserving natural vegetation during construction is also a priority for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe use native trees. You know, if there&#8217;s wildlife corridors, we want to protect those. Try to leave as much buffer around the streams, and around those pathways as we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Share your bear photos and videos with us through <a href=\"https:\/\/wlos.com\/chimein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Chime In<\/a>: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 Black bears naturally thrive in heavily forested environments with dense vegetation and access to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-573335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}