A picture of a black bear in today’s La Crosse Tribune has prompted me to look backward in my files at copies of this series of articles to see when I last noted the presence of one of these animals in our area. Would you believe it was just short of one year ago?

The stories are becoming more frequent, and I am convinced that this trend will continue.

Consider what is happening. During the past half century, there has been a lot of logging in our area, and much of this former forest land is now covered with young trees and brush of many species. The lower level cover is, consequently, much thicker than is usual under a closed canopy of taller trees, thus providing better hiding places for more large animals.

And don’t forget the prevalence of fruits such as blackberries in that type of understory. Anyone who grew up in a rural area around here should know that all it takes to get a good growth of blackberry brush is to cut a few trees. Allow some sunshine into a former woods, and blackberries will appear.

Think for a moment about how much sunshine has been let into those woods during the last 50 years and you may begin to understand where I’m coming from. All those logs that went to town to be turned into railroad ties have left some mighty big gaps in our woods. A lot of them are blackberry fruit farms now. It is likely that in many cases the blackberries are supplemented by wild plum thickets, too.

There is another feature of our woodland that should be remembered, too. If one is near the top of almost any ridge, he is either in the woods or near to it. And he can travel for many miles without changing his situation much. Any decent aerial photograph of this area will show you what I mean. One can travel for hours without leaving the shelter of woodland cover except for the possibility of having to cross the occasional road. That’s two or three bounds for a bear.

What else, then, does a bear need to stay happy? Did I hear someone say water? There are plenty of springs in the back ends of our coulees to provide drinking water that is as protected from observation as the blackberry patches. There is also a creek in the bottom of every coulee, a creek that can be reached under cover of darkness if need be.

As far as getting fed is concerned, bears are omnivorous — ready to eat almost anything. And they’ll find it, too. The fruits that I mentioned above are dessert, though much appreciated any time they are available.

If I were a bear, I would probably think of this area as paradise and be unlikely to want to leave it. I suspect that we will have to get used to seeing bears as permanent residents of our area. It will require some changes in our thinking, but I don’t believe they’re going away. Therefore, we are going to have to make the adjustments.

Who would have thought a half century ago that we were going to lose a railroad and gain a bear? Or that we’d be talking now about what was happening along the trail?