[calm nature music] - When I first get out on the trail, it's my favorite part of the start of my day.

The smell of bears, it's a sweet musk.

It's just the most amazing scent out in the wild.

As I'm walking sometimes the fog is still on the ground, and so it's really heavy and rolling and it looks other worldly.

That's truly one of my favorite parts of it is that for one day in my life, everything turns off.

It's just me out there with them and all wildlife, really, and the trees and the grass and, and the sunrise.

It's just nothing compares to that in my mind.

It's just a place of true solace.

My name is Cassia Rivera.

My home is Holly Springs, North Carolina.

So my life consists of homeschooling my children five days a week, and studying, researching, photographing the American black bear seven days a week.

Organization is the key to how I do everything.

And also making sure I get that quiet time every night to plan out the next day and be able to hit the ground running.

When I wake up at 5, 5:30 in the morning I can do work then and then homeschool and then more work after.

That's kind of how I juggle it when I'm not in the field.

It is 2:40 in the morning and I am making my sons their lunch for today.

Because when I'm gone, it's important they still know I love them.

I'm gonna always leave them a little note, so they know that I'm still with them.

[quiet xylophone music] [engine revving] A tactic that I use in driving in the middle of the night to bear territory is just to hug the inside of the two lanes.

If a bear decides to cross right in front of that car he's not gonna have a chance.

People don't realize they're driving through some of the most densely populated wildlife areas in North Carolina and really the country.

I actually get questions all the time.

A standing bear, is it aggressive?

You know, that's a huge misconception.

They stand to gain intel and to be able to connect sight sound and hearing together.

So standing bears are curious bears.

They are not there to attack.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna park right here and we're gonna go on foot.

So right now I'm looking for newly shaped grass trails.

Sometimes when you see an opening you might find a sleeping bear.

And of course always remember to look up.

You have to understand their cues because they will literally communicate right from eye contact.

They use their ears, their mouth, their posture.

So if you can pick up on what they're communicating to you in the very first encounter, you will have a successful and respectful and peaceful time with them.

Because at spring they prefer sedge as their vegetation.

Sedge is a grass like plant, and it's really high on protein.

And you can tell the difference between sedge and grass because a sedge is a thick triangular blade.

I'm gonna peek around this treeline and if we don't see any, we can move on.

All right, back to the car.

[laughing] There's just not, there's not enough sign of them here.

So I've seen worry, furrowed, eyes from a mother.

There was a great divide between two corn fields and there was a male passing through.

And this mother with very young cubs.

And I could see the worry and concern on her face.

A week or two after that, I could see her goofy face when her and her children would play together.

She had a difference of body language when she was protective versus playing with her kids.

[tires rattling] What are those things I can't tell?

[playful guitar music] [camera shudder snapping] Oh my gosh.

I can't believe how calm it is right now though.

That is so wicked.

[playful music continues] [camera shudder snapping] Yeah.

He sees a bear I bet.

Look at the position of his camera.

All right, I'm gonna try to see what he sees before we get to him.

That's another owl.

[camera shudder snapping] [playful guitar music] Is that another owl?

That's incredible.

[camera shudder snapping] Look how proud he standing.

[camera shudder snapping] I'm also involved heavily in photo donations to bear wise program, bear rescues around the country.

I've launched a bear class for the first time, and it's a dream come true.

And my goal is to reach as many people as possible with education about bears.

[car tires rattling] Good find.

Oh, he got a crawfish.

Masterful hunter.

[camera shudder snapping] Oh my gosh, I love this.

[camera shudder snapping] That is awesome.

A muskrat or a nutria.

There's a difference between the two and I think it's the color of the teeth.

I do feel that these are incredibly intelligent animals and they absolutely can pick up on our motivations our intentions and our feelings towards them.

They'll build day beds like right by the edges.

You can miss them just simply by walking by.

This is a beautiful bear path that we're on right now.

If you scooch down, it goes all the way through perfectly.

And so this is an area of high travel for bears.

We're close.

We are close.

[tires rattling] That looks like a mom.

Hi, sweetie.

[camera shudder snapping] What a beautiful bear.

Sometimes the paws will suction into the mud and you can see her walking very slowly and carefully because it's the mud is sucking her paw down and now traveling quicker.

[camera shutter clicking] Look how carefully.

Did you see how beautiful that bear was?

Her ears, because they stayed forward.

They stayed up, her ears staying up, her posture not changing her traveling and the way she was going.

Just shows that she was comfortable with where we were and good to go.

A lot of people don't know this but maybe half of the time, my two boys are with me.

They are the ones that help me choose the photos because I really value how they see the world.

They see it purely and they see it how I feel everyone should see it.

I very much rely on them to show me which ones speak to them.

The owl printing itself, that was an amazing encounter.

Awesome photograph of that.

One of my favorite photographs was of the bear in her habitat.

The leaves, the wood, the water, was just absolutely gorgeous.

I can't wait to work on it and tell everyone about her.

I absolutely am passionate about teaching others.

Just learn the behavior of the animals that you wish to know more about in the wild.

And you will have an amazing encounter.

They will open up their world to you.

And that's what the bears have done for me.

[playful guitar music]