Bear Country Food Storage: Canisters, Lockers, and Hangs

In an emergency, call 911.

The first step in bear country is to look up the food storage rules for the exact park, forest or campground you're visiting. The National Park Service (NPS) says regulations for storing food differ depending on the park and the bears that live there, and advises checking with the park before taking food into the backcountry. National forests issue their own food storage orders, with their own dates and requirements. What follows is a guide to the main methods and how a few well-known places apply them, not a substitute for local rules.

What counts as "food"

NPS says bears consider anything with a scent to be food. That includes toiletries, trash and fuel, along with actual food and drinks. Yosemite National Park's list adds cans and bottles, soaps, cosmetics, empty ice chests (including certified bear-resistant ones) and unwashed cooking and meal-prep items.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC), a group of federal and state agencies, puts it simply: keep food and anything with a scent out of tents, and properly store unattended food and other scented items.

Option 1: Campground food lockers

Many developed campgrounds provide metal food lockers, often called bear boxes. Where they're provided, they're often the required method.

• Yosemite: In campgrounds, all food must go in a food locker, which should be kept closed and latched. Only the food you're using should be out, and trash goes in the locker or a bear-proof dumpster. Yosemite says to never keep food, drinks, toiletries or trash in your tent or tent cabin.
• Glacier: In campgrounds, Glacier National Park says food, containers, cookware and trash must be stored in a vehicle, a designated food locker, or hung when not in use, day and night. It also says not to put food or trash in pit toilets.

Option 2: Hard-sided vehicles (where allowed)

Some places let you store food in a vehicle; others limit or ban it.

• NPS says that in some parks, food can be stored in a car if it's out of sight with the windows completely closed, but never in a pickup truck bed or strapped to the outside of a vehicle.
• Yosemite is stricter. Food may be kept in a vehicle only during daylight, out of sight with windows closed. After dark, food must go in a food locker, not the car or trunk. Hard-sided trailers and RVs may hold food out of sight with windows, doors and vents closed; pop-up, tent and other soft-sided campers may not.
• IGBC notes that hard-sided vehicles are an option for unattended food but advises against leaving attractants in vehicles for extended periods, such as during backcountry trips.

Option 3: Bear-resistant containers (canisters)

Portable hard-sided containers are the standard for backpackers in many areas, and some places require them.

IGBC certification. IGBC runs a bear-resistant products program that certifies containers that meet minimum standards for how hard grizzly bears must work to get into them. Products are certified through live testing with captive grizzly bears or through a technical evaluation. Key points from IGBC:

• Certification does not guarantee a product is bear-proof, and it doesn't prevent small leaks or spills.
• An unlocked cooler is not considered bear resistant. Certified coolers need to be locked.
• The best way to confirm a product is certified is to match the certification number on the product to IGBC's current list, since not every manufacturer uses the IGBC logo.
• IGBC certification does not mean a product is automatically approved on all public lands. IGBC says to check with the land management agency.

Agency rules on top of certification:

• Yosemite requires bear canisters for overnight wilderness hikers and keeps its own list of containers allowed in the park. It says to place the canister on the ground 25 to 50 feet from your campsite, away from cliffs and water, where a bear can't easily roll it off. Don't hang or attach anything to it.
• Yellowstone allows only hard-sided containers on IGBC's approved list in its backcountry, where they should be secured on the ground at the base of the food pole or at the cooking area. Yellowstone notes these containers are not approved for food storage in its frontcountry campgrounds, and anything that doesn't fit must still be hung or stored in a bear-proof locker.
• On the Custer Gallatin National Forest, a 2026 food storage order accepts bear-resistant containers or other products approved by IGBC.

Option 4: Hanging food (only where allowed)

Hanging is legal in some places and illegal in others.

• Yosemite: Hanging food is illegal throughout the park, and counterbalance hangs are no longer legal in the wilderness.
• Yellowstone backcountry: Use the food poles provided. Yellowstone says to bring at least 35 feet of rope and hang everything at least 10 feet above the ground and 4 feet from tree trunks.
• National forests: Several Forest Service orders list hanging as an option. The Custer Gallatin National Forest's 2026 order allows food to be suspended at least 10 feet above the ground and 4 feet from adjacent trees or poles. The National Forests in Florida use the same 10-foot and 4-foot guidance. Other forests may set different heights, so read the order for your forest.

IGBC says that on most public lands, a container that isn't certified has to be stored in an approved manner, such as a locked hard-sided vehicle or camper, hung 10 feet up and 4 feet from anything climbable, or inside a working electric fence, and tells campers to check local rules.

Cooking and sleeping distances

Distances vary, so check your destination. Some examples:

• Yellowstone backcountry: Sleep at least 100 yards (91 meters), preferably upwind, from the "core camp" where you cook, eat and hang food. Don't cook in your tent, and avoid sleeping in the clothes you wore while cooking. Strain dishwater and scatter it at least 100 yards from your tent site.
• National Forests in Florida: Eat and cook up to 100 yards from your tent, and never store food in your tent.
• Yosemite: Canisters go 25 to 50 feet from your campsite.

Penalties

Rules have teeth. Yosemite says its food storage rules have the force of federal law, and that failing to store food properly can result in impoundment of your food or car, a fine of up to $5,000, or removal from your campsite or lodging.

Before you go

1. Look up the food storage rules for your specific park, forest or campground, including any seasonal orders. Forest Service orders, like the Custer Gallatin's, can apply only during certain months.
2. Confirm which containers are accepted there. An IGBC-certified canister may not be enough if the park keeps its own list.
3. If hanging is allowed, pack enough rope. If it isn't, plan for a canister or locker.
4. Pack out all trash. IGBC says not to bury or burn garbage.

Sources

• NPS, Bear Safety: Storing Food: https://www.nps.gov/articles/bearsafetyfood.htm
• NPS, Yosemite National Park, Bears: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bears.htm
• NPS, Yosemite National Park, Bear Canisters: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bearcanisters.htm
• NPS, Yosemite National Park, Approved Bear-Resistant Containers: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/containers.htm
• NPS, Yellowstone National Park, Backcountry Safety: https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/backcountrysafety.htm
• NPS, Glacier National Park, Bears: https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/bears.htm
• IGBC, Bear-Resistant Products: https://igbconline.org/programs/bear-resistant-products/
• IGBC, Hikers & Campers: https://igbconline.org/be-bear-aware/campers/
• USDA Forest Service, Custer Gallatin National Forest, food storage requirements release (February 27, 2026): https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/custergallatin/newsroom/releases/requirements-food-storage-reinstated-march-1
• USDA Forest Service, National Forests in Florida, Bear Safety: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/florida/newsroom/stories/bear-safety

Last verified: November 1, 2026.