COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service is putting in place new rules starting Tuesday that prohibit feeding deer and require the use of bear resistant containers in parts of a national forest that include eastern Washington state, northern Idaho and northwestern Montana.
Officials say the rules are an effort to prevent conflicts with bears and other animals.
The rules will require visitors to the popular Priest Lake area as well as backcountry explorers in the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains to store and dispose food in a “bear resistant manner.”
The Spokesman-Review reports (http://bit.ly/qpoRV0) that the rules apply to the Priest Lake, Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry ranger districts of the Panhandle National Forests.
