The Centralia/Chehalis area has one of the few westside populations of color phase black bears. Brooklyn has bears and around N. River there are lots. The Lower Chehalis forest is also good. The Capitol forest has a few bears, but had the crap knocked out of them in the last few years. F&G lowered the permits to 50 this year so that means they want 5-7 bears killed (10 - 12 % hunter success).

There are a few better units in the SW if you look up the harvest reports for the last 5 years or so. I try to hunt areas with 12-15% hunter success rate during the general season and I usually see bears.