A regulation for overnight campers to carry bear-resistant canisters for garbage, toiletries and food seems to have curbed conflicts with black bears on a portion of the Appalachian Trail, according to officials with the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests. The regulation was put in place in 2012 for an area of the Blood Mountain Wilderness in an attempt to avoid closing a 5-mile section of the Appalachian Trail from Jarrard Gap to Neels Gap. Camping areas were closed seasonally in previous years out of concern for hikers.