GATLINBURG, Tenn. – Wildlife experts expect fewer nuisance bears in East Tennessee this fall because a good crop of nuts and berries in the Smokies should prevent them from ranging in search of food.
Acorns from red oaks and chestnut oaks appear to be plentiful, according to media reports. White oak acorns, which are preferred by deer and bears, are also abundant in some parts of the Smokies.
Wildlife populations are still recovering from a mast failure in 2011, which Great Smoky Mountains National Park Biologist Bill Stiver said was “probably one of the worst food years in the history of the park.” Mast is the forest seed crop that includes acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, persimmons, blackgum berries, dogwood berries, black cherries and pine seeds.
Mast production depends on spring weather. A hard frost in late spring can kill the flowers on the trees and result in low mast production the next fall. For red oaks, a bad spring frost can affect acorn production for two years running because the acorns take two growing seasons to produce.
Stiver said the park’s mast failure in 2011 caused female bears to breed in sync in 2012, when the mast crop was better. That meant there were a lot of cubs in 2013. But a lean mast crop that year caused the mother bears to lose significant weight, and that carried over into 2014.