Black bears do well around humans. When I lived in Northern California, over the couple of dozen years we saw the mule deer populations plummet and the black bear populations grow. I used to see up to 100 deer in one evening drive up north from Tahoe, now you might see 1.

Bear sign is more often seen in the mountains there than deer these days too.

Now I live up in Washington and see occasional black bear, but we also have increasing populations of grizzly, cougar, wolves, even a handful of lynx and a wolverine or two. It is good news. The moose are still doing well, unlike some other parts of the country.

It is not really the case that people are spreading into the wild areas here, they did that 4 generations ago. If anything, more people are moving to urban areas for the jobs.

Bear spray is carried at every little hardware store now and you see it on the trails a lot these days.