Kate McCurdy

Kate McCurdy

(Graduated December 2006)

Attitudes, Beliefs and Behaviors About Bear Resistant Food Canister Use Among Wilderness Users in Yosemite National Park

Bear-resistant food storage canisters have gained widespread acceptance by backpackers as the most convenient and effective means of avoiding conflict with black bears in Sierra Nevada wilderness areas. Bear incidents, however, continue in the Yosemite Wilderness. Beginning in 2004, Yosemite backpackers were required to store their food in approved bear-resistant food storage canisters when camped within seven air miles of a road and anywhere above 9,600 feet; this constitutes a large majority of the park's wilderness. In 2005 I evaluated backpackers' use of canisters for food storage. Trailhead and internet-based surveys were used to identify wilderness visitors' beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control and intentions regarding use of food storage canisters.I used the Theory of Planned Behavior to explain intended use of food storage canisters in the Yosemite Wilderness and found that models containing measures of attitudes and subjective norm explained 38 to 43% of backpackers' intentions to use canisters. The study also assessed backpackers' canister use efficiency, and examined bear-human conflict that occurred in the Yosemite Wilderness in 2005. While 87% of respondents used canisters, only 62% of those who carried canisters reported that they were able to achieve full compliance by fitting all food, trash and toiletries into canisters on every night of their trip, and 26% of the 108 human-bear encounters documented involved backpackers using bear-resistant food canisters.

Kate is currently the manager of the Sedgwick Reserve near Santa Barbara, the largest reserve in the University of California's Natural Reserve System.

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