High Sierra Topix

It's been a few years since this female bear local to Tuolumne Meadows has successfully kept her cubs alive through their first year of life. Now, with just a few months remaining until winter and the seasonal closure of Tioga Road, these cubs are so close to surviving what has been a wild and treacherous six months of life. As far as we know, this family of bears crosses the Tioga Road on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times a day. Each time they approach and cross the road, their lives enter the hands of us human drivers, who more often than not, are speeding and unaware of the potential for wildlife to be crossing the road.

14 bears have been hit by cars so far this year.

Just last week a yearling was hit and killed near the Yosemite Creek drainage along Tioga Road. For these two brave cubs and their mother, and many other critters large and small crossing the Tioga Road, the remaining few months of the road being open are a critical time for their survival. Black bear cubs already face low odds of survival in their first year of life without the threat of speeding vehicles. Generally, about a quarter of black bear cubs die in their first year of life, and a third die within the next two years.

There are few greater sights than a mother and her cubs foraging and playing in one of the largest high-elevation meadows in the Sierra Nevada. Even if you never see these bears, just knowing that they are out there in the wilderness, living wildly, is enough to advocate for their protection.

If you are visiting Yosemite, please drive the speed limits on all of our roads and use extra caution in dawn and dusk hours when wildlife is active and difficult to see. You can all do your part in the continued protection of black bears and wildlife here in Yosemite and beyond.