Education programs for reducing American black bear–human conflict: indicators of success?

Education programs designed to reduce conflicts between American black bears (Ursus americanus) and humans are often implemented by diverse groups of wildlife practitioners who may devote significant resources to these programs, yet little has been done to characterize the content, structure, and effectiveness of these programs. We review 6 education programs in North America. We build on a common performance indicator used in 5 of 6 programs—a reduction in the number of bear–related complaints to wildlife authorities—and suggest that practitioners incorporate other explanatory variables such as human dimensions, weather, natural food, or number of bears harvested. Some of these explanatory variables draw on potentially existing databases; others require new databases. If education programs are to remain an integral part of bear conservation and management, evaluation is essential to understand the ability of such programs to reduce conflict and encourage coexistence between people and bears.