Conservation efforts and reforestation have allowed the species to rebound in rural northeastern North Carolina, providing a food source for families here and luring “high-net-worth” hunters and visitors.
Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
Eastern NC’s black bears: How hunters helped save a species
Special report: The state’s black bear population was in trouble 50 years ago, but research and conservation measures put in place in the decades since — with hunters’ “direct cooperation” — have enabled the species to recover, although not everyone is happy.
