Today bears have a growing people-problem: their “backyards” are full of humans and people-provided food is everywhere. Discover practical solutions and real-world examples of how to prevent conflicts at home and at play so we can do a better job of sharing space with these intelligent, adaptable animals. CONTENTS - Understanding Bears and Bear Behavior - Bear-Proofing Your Home - Being Bear-Smart in the Outdoors - Attractant Management: Garbage, Bird Feeders, Fruit Trees, Chicken Coops, Gardens and more - Creating Bear-Smart Communities - Preventing Conflicts - Responding to Encounters and Attacks - A Bear Manager's World - Case Studies from the U.S. & Canada - North American Bear Populations - Lexicon of Terminology & Extensive Resources Living with Bears has been the ultimate guidebook to living smart, staying safe and sharing space with bears since 2006. The revised and expanded 2nd edition, Living with Bears Handbook, has been fully updated and is easier to use than ever. It’s packed with practical information, useful tips, inspiring success stories and advice from bear and people experts from all over the continent. Recommended by BearWise, the National Wildlife Federation, International Association for Bear Research and Management, wildlife managers and experts throughout North America. Bears don't just live in national parks or remote wild areas, and as more and more of their habitat vanishes as a casualty of our developing it, they have little choice but to live in closer proximity to people. The good news? As Masterson shows in her excellent Living with Bears Handbook, it's not all that hard to share our space. Whether you are simply visiting bear country, or living with ursine neighbors, this easy to use and comprehensive guide offers many simple and practical solutions on how to coexist safely with bears. I am fortunate to have spent most of my life living in bear territory. I have black bears regularly wandering in my backyard near Yosemite, and I frequently encountered grizzly bears when I worked in Yellowstone. Yet I've never had a single negative incident, largely a result of following many of the practices outlined in this book. Even though bear attacks are rare, learning how to avoid conflict is important for human safety. And the stakes are even higher for bears each year thousands of bears are destroyed in North America largely because of our carelessness. Use this book and you can help ensure the bear has a wild future in our increasingly human-dominated world. --Beth Pratt, California Director of the National Wildlife Federation The best single source of information and inspiration on how to understand and live compatibly with bears. Linda Masterson writes with understanding, authority and wit and invites readers to share in her encyclopedic knowledge of bears and how to reduce human-bear conflicts. --Stephen Herrero, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, University of Calgary, Canada A remarkable book that will change the way you think and act in bear country. Masterson is a master writer and researcher. Her book should be on the shelves of every library and in every home by which a bear has ever strolled. --Sylvia Dolson, Executive Director, Get Bear Smart Society Author and researcher Linda Masterson is an award-winning writer and the author of two popular books: Living With Bears Handbook , and Surviving Wildfire , a practical guidebook for homeowners born from real-world experience. Masterson has been a featured presenter at conferences and workshops, both for bears (International Bear Management Association) and wildfire (National Fire Protection Association). Her business background includes extensive experience in strategic planning, marketing and communications, including years as a creative director and senior vice president of Ketchum Communications. She is currently a partner in the firm Masterson & Phillips and lives on Florida's southern Gulf Coast. Linda was a member of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Bear Aware team for more than a decade, and along with her husband Cory Phillips, has hiked through more than a hundred parks and forests throughout the U.S. and Canada. Technical advisor Rich Beausoleil has been conducting bear research since 1997 in Louisiana, Tennessee, New Mexico and Washington, where he's been the statewide bear and cougar specialist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife since 2002. Rich is the Chair of the Management Committee for the International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) and a frequent contributor to professional publications and journals. He's also authored several agency manuals on responding to human-carnivore conflicts, and his efforts contributed to the state of Washington passing an anti-feeding regulation. Rich holds double degrees in wildlife biology, a BS from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master's Degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.