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While checking into a lodge, the receptionist warned that a black bear smashed the window of a man’s F-150 truck a few hours earlier and took an empty bag of chips.
The next morning, I met state wildlife biologist Janelle Musser downtown. A black bear crossed the empty parking lot behind us before we set out to search for bears. (Bears can move more quietly than squirrels!)
We drove to an area of steep, forested hills sprinkled with cabins and short-term rentals.
Within minutes of stepping out on foot, we find a female bear, maybe about 200 pounds, with two cubs not much bigger than a domestic cat.
The younglings practiced climbing on trees and balancing on a fence pole, and the mama later nursed them in the shade.
I found it heartwarming when Musser, who has been working around bears for years, melted to the cuteness as much as I did.
“This is what we want people to see,” Musser said.
WHAT TO KNOW
A black bear climbs a tree in Gatlinburg, Tenn. on May 20, 2026.Black bear encounters are on the rise in Tennessee, ranging from magical moments in the wild to damaged property or possible danger — for both people and bears.
Bears scrounge through trash, cars and sometimes even homes for an easy source of calories. They arguably have the best noses in the animal kingdom, based on the measure of smelling food from long distances, and are opportunistic feeders.
Last summer, for example, bears were content sitting up in trees, gorging on cicadas during the emergence of a 17-year brood.
But when natural food sources are scarce, a factor often driven by climate change, they tend to seek out human sources.
Drought, invasive species and extreme weather events can reduce availability of the berries, grasses or nuts preferred by bears. Hurricane Helene, for example, destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of Appalachian forest habitat and provided an opportunity for non-native species to spread.
Disturbances are happening globally. Sea ice decline in the Arctic is driving polar bears away from their natural prey of seals and towards towns. Last year in Japan, prolonged overcast conditions happened as beech trees were supposed to produce nuts that Asiatic black bears rely on.
“Because of this atmospheric anomaly, that masting event never happened, and Japan saw a completely unprecedented rise in bear attacks and bear conflicts,” said Briana Abrahms, a wildlife biologist at the University of Washington.
In turn, she said, these types of situations create danger for bears in the form of retaliatory killings.
Tennessee’s wildlife managers are working to prevent pathways that lead to conflict, but the quest for coexistence can be thorny.
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Where do massive server farms get their electricity? Tennessee communities are adopting new policies to deal with a new, power-hungry form of industrial development. Plus the local news for June 3, 2026 and this week’s edition of What Where Whens-day.
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MORE TO KNOW
- A peer study analyzing 10 cities shows Nashville is an outlier when it comes to technology used in policing. WPLN’s Emily West reports that the city only uses public cameras dispersed throughout downtown, does not employ license plate readers and lacks a “gunshot detection system,” which is a system that alerts officers when a gun is fired. In recent years, Nashville Metro Council has required police contracts that affect surveillance to go through legislative review.
- A lawsuit against the freight railroad company, CSX Transportation, is set to go to trial in August. A jury could determine the company’s role in the deaths of Waverly flood victims in 2021. The plaintiffs allege that a debris-filled culvert owned by CSX acted like a dam, creating a large pool of floodwater. When the bridge and culvert gave way, they say it formed a “deadly tidal wave” that hit the heart of the small town. CSX has denied liability for the deaths in legal filings. The company’s attorneys wrote that the flood was tragic, but say there is no evidence that CSX played any role in the disaster.
- Governor Bill Lee is the highest paid Republican governor in the nation, taking home nearly $240,000 a year. Only four other governors earn more than him. Those are the leaders of California, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. While Lee’s earnings are in the top five, the Tennessean reports the median household income for residents of the state ranks in the bottom 10. Lee is not the highest paid worker on the state’s payroll, however: TennCare Director Stephen Smith earns more than $400,000 a year.
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