Bringing Bear Awareness to North Cascades Classrooms
Conservation Northwest / May 30, 2025 / Recreation
Conservation Northwest teams up with WDFW to help students safely coexist with black and grizzly bears
By Kurt Hellmann, Wildlife-Recreation Coexistence Program Manager & Alycia Scheidel, Wildlife-Recreation Specialist
“Who here has seen a bear?”
Nearly every hand shot up. Dozens of middle schoolers wriggled in their seats, eager to share their encounters.
“In the woods!”
“At my house!”
“On the way to school!”
It was an exciting April morning at Mary Purcell Elementary in Sedro-Woolley, and the room buzzed with energy. The students, a lively bunch of third graders, were bursting with stories and questions about bears.
“Are black bears always black?”
A chorus of “Nos,” erupted around the room.
“What other colors can they be?”
“Brown!” “White!” “Blonde!” “Purple?” one student guessed.
That answer gave pause.
For the past five months, Conservation Northwest has partnered with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to bring bear education into classrooms across the western North Cascades. Our goal? To empower students—and by extension, their families and communities—with the knowledge they need to live and recreate safely in bear country.
Wildlife-Recreation Specialist, Alycia Scheidel, educating a room of students on bear safety.
Through engaging, interactive presentations, we cover the biology and behavior of black and grizzly bears, tips for species identification, what to do in the event of a bear encounter (including proper use of bear spray), and how to prevent conflicts around homes, schools, and campsites.
This outreach is particularly timely. In April 2024, the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced their decision to move forward with restoring grizzly bears to the North Cascades. Whether translocations begin this year or further down the road, one thing is clear: grizzly bears are coming back and communities need to be ready.
But this program isn’t just about grizzlies. Black bears—of which there are an estimated 22,000 in Washington—are already a common part of life in the region. Despite their long history of living near humans, conflicts still occur, usually because bears become food-conditioned or habituated.
One of the biggest gaps we’re helping to close is around what to do when one encounters a bear. “Run!” and “Play dead!” are common—but often incorrect—answers. Running can trigger a chase, and while playing dead may work in a grizzly bear attack, it is not the right response to a black bear attack. In that case, one should always fight back.
Building a Culture of Coexistence
Perhaps the most rewarding part of this work is seeing how eager students are to learn—and to teach others.
After a recent presentation, a third-grade teacher emailed to share the impact:
“On Monday, students came back with all kinds of ways they informed others, and it was a delight to hear how they taught others. In this world we are all so busy, but I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that your visit was valuable, appreciated, and important to educating our students.”
So far, we’ve reached nearly 700 students and 50 teachers across five schools in Skagit and Snohomish counties. And we’re just getting started.
At Conservation Northwest, we believe education is a powerful tool for conservation. Through these classroom visits, we’re planting the seeds of knowledge, awareness, and respect—seeds that will grow into communities prepared to coexist with bears, now and in the future.
