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RappNature
540-987-3105 _marshali.jonesiQi'nlndspdnfrcom
If there is one wild animal which defines the special character of living in Rappahannock County, it must be the American black bear, Ursus americanus. In fact, bears are so common in the county that it’s easy to take them for granted — but this was not the case just a few generations ago. Although the black bear was cfriginally abundant throughout Virginia, by 1900 bear populations had been reduced to remnant populations in the Great Dismal Swamp and in the remote mountainous areas along the West Virginia and North Carolina borders.
But tiie fortunes of bears slowly began to improve in the early 20th century, with the establishment of national forests west and south of the Shenandoah Valley, and then the creation of Shenandoah National Park in 1936.
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