Black Bears in Kentucky
Distribution
Kentucky is home to a growing bear population that
offers frequent and widespread viewing opportunities in the wild. Long-term
monitoring and ongoing research has identified the core population as
concentrated along the Pine, Cumberland, and Black Mountain areas within in
Harlan, Letcher, and Pike counties. Their current range also includes the
entire eastern region of the Commonwealth along the Southern Appalachian
Mountains bordering Virginia and West Virginia.
In addition, bears have become
increasingly common in McCreary and surrounding counties expanding outward from
junction of the
Daniel Boone National Forest and
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area
(BSF). It is suspected that growing bear numbers in McCreary County are the
likely result of population expansion from the BSF in Tennessee, which was home
to an experimental release of 14 female bears from
Great Smoky Mountains National Park from
1996–1997. Since 1998, the KDFWR has received sighting and nuisance reports
from 54 Kentucky counties.
