YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Mont. -- The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is eying the declining White Bar k Pine Tree as a major factor for why there have been several bear-human interactions this summer.

Jeff Welsch, Communications Director for the GYC said the high elevation tree has been on the decline for several years.

The tree’s nuts are a food source for Grizzlies, but because they are disappearing, bears are coming down to lower elevations to find food more often.

Hiker Jerry Perdains has seen his share of bears around the Gallatin Canyon all summer long. “For sure one Black Bear that has frequented the camp, or the very south end of this camp,” Perdains said.

Perdains said none of the bears he’s seen have ever been aggressive toward humans, but a couple of times this season bear and human encounters have turned deadly.

That includes an incident several weeks ago in which a mother Grizzly mauled and killed a man, and injured two others at the Soda Butte Campground, north of Yellowstone National Park.

Welsch calls the Yellowstone region an “ecological island,” which makes it hard for the animals to go outside of the region to find food. That means they’ll stick around this area to find their food.

Human behavior can also contribute to changing bear behavior. Food left in campgrounds, or on the side of the roads can bring them down as well, Welsch said.

But as we’ve heard all summer, experts and conservationist point to bear spray and education as the best methods for keeping people safe.

“Just having to pay more attention to how we are in bear country, respecting bear country, being very aware of what we’re doing with food,” Welsch said.

Welsch thinks bear conflicts could carry on into the fall season as well. But if hikers take on the same attitude as Jerry Perdains, they should at least have a chance of cutting back on the chances of something serious.

“We carry the bear spray when we go up…just in case,” Perdains said.