Sense of Place: How Bear Flat got its name

Bear Flat is a few miles west of Healdsburg. Both Sonoma Creek and the Russian River have tributaries named Bear Creek. Elsewhere in the county are two Bear Canyons, a Bear Ridge, and a pair of Bearpen Creeks.

Why so many bears among our place names? Long before this was Wine Country, it was bear country. This was such prime grizzly habitat that early settlers often saw dozens of them in a single day.

A full-grown California grizzly could weigh 1,000 pounds and stand 10 feet tall on its hind legs. Indigenous people usually tried to avoid drawing their attention. They believed if the grizzly’s proper name was spoken, it might come to investigate, so nicknames like “smooth stand up” were used instead (referring to how easily and frequently grizzlies stood up on their hind legs).

After the Sonoma Mission was established in 1823, the bears’ numbers probably increased. As soon as large herds of cattle appeared, the grizzlies began hunting them. One bear learned to lie down and wave his paws in the air to arouse the curiosity of nearby cattle. When one came over to investigate, the grizzly would grab it by the neck in a deadly bear hug.

There were still plenty of grizzlies when the Bear Flag was raised in Sonoma in 1846. By 1870, Sonoma County’s human population had grown to nearly 20,000. Grizzly-human conflicts increased, and bears were shot on sight. The county’s last known grizzly was killed in 1868; the last sighting in California was in 1924. The California grizzly now exists only on the state flag.

The grizzly’s demise left an ecological hole that is still unfilled. Where grizzlies were found, their smaller cousin, the black bear, was not. With the grizzlies gone, black bears have slowly been reclaiming their former territory. In 1999, a black bear showed up at a bed-and-breakfast in Glen Ellen. Firefighters sedated the ursine tourist, and it was taken out of the county and released back into the wild.

A “bearpen” was a pit with a lid that fell when a bear tried to take the bait. Presumably, these traps were once located along our Bearpen Creeks. Today, wildlife researchers use camera traps. Bears have shown up in the wildlife corridor connecting Sonoma Mountain and the Mayacmas, and at Pepperwood Preserve. (One camera’s last photo was of a bear’s open mouth.)

The Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that California’s black bear population has tripled since the 1980s. After decades of scarcity, it appears that bears are returning to Sonoma County as both residents and tourists.