A rapid increase in the number of bears in a Glacier National Park campground led park officials to close a section of the park late last week.

"We did close the St. Mary Campground on September 10, due to bear activity in the area, we're not sure how long it will remain closed, but as soon as it is safe, we will open it back up," said GNP Public Information Officer Katie Liming.

Liming says closures like this are rare, but they have happened before, relatively recently.

"There's an abundant crop of berries around that campground and there's a shortage of berries in other parts of the park, so we have seen more bears in that area than usual. It doesn't happen every year, but it did happen back in 2013, where we had to close the campground first to tents and then to all campers," Liming said.

Tent camping was closed for St. Mary’s campground on August 28. When asked how many bears and whether the bears were black bears or Grizzlies, park officials did not know the answer.

Bears are currently in a state called hyperphagia, where they eat a tremendous amount of food to store up energy for hibernation.

 

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