An increase in bear encounters has prompted the U.S. Forest Service to consider clamping down on food storage rules for campers in parts of Western North Carolina. BPR's Helen Chickering has details. Hanging food from a tree is apparently no longer enough to keep away the black bears that live around two popular Western North Carolina camping spots Panthertown Valley , just outside of Cashiers in Jackson County and the portion of the Appalachian Trail that travels through North Carolina “They