What Summit County residents and visitors need to know about black bears in one of Colorado’s most densely-populated habitats: They’re beginning to emerge from their dens and shaking off some extra snow this year. 

How many? Hard to count officially. But incident reports of human-bear encounters are greater here than most areas.

“For us, I think the bigger title is this area continues to see the most bear-human conflict the past few years,” said Rachael Gonzales, a public information officer for the northwest region of Colorado Parks & Wildlife.

“We believe there are between 12,000 and 20,000 bears in Colorado,” she said. “We manage bears based on habitat and how many could live in that area.”

Male bears began to awaken the last week of March, and now the females and cubs are leaving their dens.