A 71-year-old motorcyclist from Orange was thrown from his bike and seriously hurt Saturday morning after crashing into an adult black bear on Route 122 near the New Salem town line in Petersham. The crash happened around 10 a.m., and the severity of his injuries prompted a medical helicopter to airlift him to a Level 1 trauma center in Worcester.
The motorcyclist struck a 160-pound bear on Route 122, according to CBS Boston. Petersham Police Chief Peter Buck and Petersham Fire Chief Robert Legare responded to the scene and began treating the man, and the station reports that Petersham firefighters and Athol Fire and EMS members continued that care as the man was transported by ambulance to a landing zone at Petersham Center School. Officials did not disclose the extent of his injuries.
Separately, the Petersham Fire Department detailed the response on Facebook. Per the fire department's account, UMass Life Flight took over patient care and flew the man to UMass Memorial Medical Center. A tow truck driver later removed the damaged motorcycle from the scene, the report notes.
A Rural Highway Through Bear Country
Petersham sits in north-central Massachusetts, about 73 miles from Boston, a drive of roughly 90 minutes, and is home to about 1,200 residents, the article notes. The town encompasses more than 3,700 acres of the Harvard Forest research facility and borders protected watershed lands around the 39-square-mile Quabbin Reservoir, according to Harvard Magazine; the area is forested and home to black bears. Route 122 runs through Petersham.
Massachusetts's black bear population has been growing since the 1970s, with bears living and breeding across Worcester County, northern Middlesex County, and west to the Berkshires, according to the same CBS Boston report. The state also records black bear harvests.
Late Summer Marks Peak Bear Movement
Black bears in Massachusetts enter winter dens and later emerge. Late summer and early autumn are peak periods for bear movement and foraging, according to Mass.gov. MassWildlife biologists also study black bears across the state, the agency says.
Vehicle collisions kill an estimated 30 to 40 black bears on Massachusetts roadways annually, with most strikes occurring on state highways and interstates, according to MassWildlife figures relayed by WHDH. The Massachusetts Environmental Police fielded more than 40 bear-related emergency calls statewide in July 2026 alone, spanning from Western Massachusetts to the South Coast and Cape Cod, as reported by WBSM.
State Regulators Move to Curb Rising Conflicts
To stabilize expanding bear numbers and address rising bear-human conflicts, vehicle strikes, and agricultural damage, the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board voted to expand bear hunting regulations starting in 2026 into a continuous season running from Labor Day through early December, according to a MassWildlife regulatory notice on Mass.gov. Massachusetts also has crash-reporting requirements for some collisions.
