White River National Forest officials stopped short of closing half of Chapman Dam Campground
this week, after a bear broke into coolers that were unsecured and potentially created conflicts with humans.
Forest Service officials on Thursday had considered closing the F, G and H loops, where a bear the day prior had gotten into a cooler at a campsite during the day with people around.
Prior incidents over the Fourth of July holiday weekend with unsecured coolers and another one on June 14 has the camp host at Chapman frustrated.
“Once they get in the cooler they want that food and until you remove that food they are going to keep going for it,” said the host on Thursday morning, who asked that his name not be used.