A popular campground in Colorado’s White River National Forest has taken the proactive and unusual step of banning tents and all other soft-sided shelters to keep campers safe from bears. The U.S. Forest Service enacted the tent ban at Difficult Campground on Wednesday, after a black bear scratched at a tent there with two young children inside it.
The incident took place at night on June 9 at the public campground, which is located in the mountains east of Aspen and is managed by hosts with American Land and Leisure. (The private company contracts with the federal government to oversee a number of Forest Service campgrounds in Colorado and other states.) The campground hosts said the bear left puncture marks on the tent but did not get inside, where a young boy and girl, both under the ages of 12, were sleeping. Their parents, who were in another tent next to them, didn’t learn about the incident until they woke up Tuesday morning.
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“The next morning, they were like, ‘Hey, mom, a bear was here,’” one of the campground hosts, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Aspen Times. “The kids were totally fine. They were a little freaked out, but they still went hiking later with their parents. They were not traumatized.”
After notifying Forest Service officials Tuesday, the campground hosts worked with the agency to clear out all the tent campers from the site. There were roughly 20 tents there, according to the Aspen Times, and the campers were either refunded or relocated to another nearby site.
Outdoor Life reached out to American Land and Leisure for additional details about the bear incident and the resulting ban on soft-sided shelters. The company did not provide a response as of press time Tuesday.
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The campground hosts told the Times, however, that the tent ban would remain in place for the next two months. They said they experienced similar issues last year with food-conditioned black bears breaking into tents and coolers. They added that “the bears were here first” and “this is their home,” and that campers are the real guests.
The Forest Service clarified in Wednesday’s public safety release that hard-sided campers and trailers are still permitted at Difficult Campground. The agency also reminded public-land users that the entire White River National Forest has a food-storage order in place, and that visitors should take every precaution to keep bears and other wildlife from obtaining human food and/or trash.
“Keeping bears from getting your food keeps you safe, keeps your neighboring campers and the campers who follow you safe, and helps keep the bears safe,” deputy district ranger Jennifer Schuller said in the announcement.
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