county passes bear & trash ordinance

On December 18, 2008, the La Plata County Board of Commissioners passed a wildlife-resistant container ordinance. This ordinance, proposed by the Living with Wildlife Advisory Board, provides county residents the option to minimize wildlife conflicts with trash by either placing trash in receptacles between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. on the day of pick up or by purchasing bear-resistant trash containers.

A copy of the ordinance is available here. 

An article on the ordinance in The Durango Herald can be found here. 

bear-resistant dumpsters

Here are some photo examples of wildlife-resistant (there's really no such thing as bear-proof) dumpsters. These dumpsters have metal lids and latching mechanisms that don't allow bears access. To upgrade your dumpsters to be wildlife-resistant or to order wildlife-resistant dumpsters, contact your local waste provider. 

For an enlarged version of these photos, click here or on the photos to view in Picasa. Click on the green arrow to begin slideshow.

bad idea. bad execution.

Sometimes, a bears behavior requires that it be moved (or relocated) in some instances. Unfortunately, not all relocations of bears go as planned. (Many of you have probably seen these photos of a wildlife official being attacked during a release by an annoyed grizzly bear that was rather unceremoniously dumped from a culvert trap). 

Here is video from the Craig Kilborn Show of one such flawed effort in Missoula, MT to tranquilize and remove a bear from a tree in 2007. WARNING: not for the faint of heart. The bear ended up ok, (at least in this stage of the process), but perhaps it may have been better to just leave the bear alone to remove itself from the tree on its own.

After seeing examples such as this, I'm amazed that black bears don't haul off and whack us humans more often. They display far more tolerance then we do. 

bearsaver container brochure

BearSaver makes arguably the best residential wildlife-resistant poly cart trash container in the industry. The latching mechanism is easily unlocked with one finger through an opening in the front and the lid automatically locks when closed. They come in three models (Grizzly, Black Bear and Varmint) and three sizes, (32-gallon, 65-gallon and 95-gallon). 

Check out and download a pdf of their brochure, here.

bear-proof container testing

Here is a video of a BearBins wildlife-resistant trash container being tested using captive grizzly bears. Containers are baited with foods, latching mechanisms are smeared with attractants such as molasses and placed in with the bears to test for effectiveness, using protocols established by the Living with Wildlife Foundation. This testing is done at The Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, MT. 

View a slideshow of wildlife-resistant container testing here:

Another testing video can be found on the BearSaver web site:

http://www.bearsaver.com/PolyCart_Video.htm

Bears are given 60-minutes to fail the containers and access food rewards and containers that withstand the onslaught are star-rated in their abilities in being bear-resistant. Containers that have passed product-testing can be viewed here. I've been told that the bears remember where containers failed in previous testing and immediately test any new design modifications, one year after the previous test.

trash hit by bears

Seems some bears haven't had enough of town yet. Trash hit out on Junction Creek Rd and dragged across the road. Not sure why this needs to be said, but bear-resistant dumpsters aren't very effective if the lids aren't shut. 

a few thanks

Thanks to Doug Goldsmith at WCA/Transit Waste, we now, finally, have ball caps for volunteers to wear while out helping us prevent bear issues. Thanks to Needleart for their great work on the hats! So, come help us out sometime - and in addition to the whole great karma thing, maybe, you'll even get a cool new hat out of it. Thank you Transit Waste!

Dennis Gallegos from Waste Management surprised us with a donated 90-gallon BearSaver bear-resistant trash container for use in educational purposes. These BearSaver cans are so user-friendly. Stop by our educational booth next year and we'll have it on hand for your inspection. Thank you Waste Management!

the bear rub

One of the more entertaining bear videos from this past year has to be this: a black bear and grizzly bear rubbing against trees in Glacier National Park. Click here to watch the video, courtesy of the USGS/Northern Divide Bear Project.

a couple good quotes

Two of my favorite quotes on bear & human conflict. Both are things of beauty. 

"The future and hope of nuisance-bear management lies in educating the public. We've got to create peer pressure among rural subdivision residents to keep things cleaned up. We've got to get the cooperation of county commissioners, so that when they approve new housing developments in prime bear habitat, there are covenants requiring bear-proof garbage containers and responsible behavior by residents. And these covenants must be rigidly enforced. The root of the problem is that we're leaving food out to attract bears." - Retired bear researcher Tom Beck, from "Ghost Grizzlies" by David Petersen

"The most critical element of wildlife management in twenty-first century America will be modifying the behavior of the most pervasive species of all. Reducing conflicts between people and wild animals will require controls on human actions: where we build our homes, how we landscape our yards, the way we dispose of our trash and house our pets. People, especially those who live along the new frontier between civilization and wildland, must accept that they are participants in the natural world, not mere observers." - Author David Baron, from his book "The Beast in the Garden."

more homes=more conflict

It's fairly safe to say that the more we gobble up good, quality bear habitat the more likely we are to experience increases in bear and human conflict. (Do we have more tornados now than in the past, or do we simply have more homes and people in the paths of tornados now?) Bears and people both like to inhabit the same habitats and maps created by the GIS Department of La Plata County easily depict how growth in our area has, rapidly in recent years, placed residential areas in some really good bear habitat.

See a progression of the maps here.

Bear researcher Tom Beck has said, "Southwest Colorado has some of the best black bear habitat in the lower 48 states. We've taken really good bear habitat, and made it great bear habitat, with the addition of homes and the subsequent human foods that come with that."

Special thanks to Robby Overfield and Rob Bergstrom at La Plata County for the creation of these maps showing growth in outlying areas of the county. Red indicates new development.

recent area bear pics

Photos courtesy (top to bottom): Kay Alexander, Bryan Peterson, Bryan Peterson, Julie Kleva, Bryan Peterson and Dana Fontenot. Thanks for the great photos!

You can email bear photos to Bear Smart Durango for use in educational purposes at any time by sending to bp@frontier.net.

non-hunter bear mortality

Non-hunter bear mortality is bear deaths outside, and not including, hunting. An average of 225 bears died per year in Colorado from 1997 to 2007 in non-hunter mortality. Spikes in these numbers occurred, not surprisingly, in years of natural food failures, 418 bears in 2007 and 404 bears in 2002.

On average, of those 225 bears per year - 30 would be killed by Colorado Division of Wildlife, 65 by landowners and 24 by USDA/APHIS (Wildlife Services). 

Bears killed by vehicles make up on average 75 percent of *other mortalities. (*bear deaths other than DOW, landowner and Wildlife Services - electrocuted, dispatched by other law enforcement officers, carcasses found, etc).

Data provided by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Top photo: Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald

Other photo: Webshots user:muddlee

la plata county bear map

Here is a map of La Plata County Bear Habitat & Activity, prepared by La Plata County in 2008 and derived from Colorado Division of Wildlife Concentration and Conflict Data. It's interesting to note just how closely the conflict areas correspond with data compiled on 2007 Bear & Human Conflict.

Red: Bear/Human Conflict Areas

Green: Summer Black Bear Concentration

Yellow: Fall Black Bear Concentration

White: Overall Black Bear Range

Dots: Human Dwellings, residences 

fall bear foods

Here are some examples of foods that black bears eat in our area from summer to late fall. In years when they are available, bears eat little else once acorns ripen (when they turn brown) and will feed on acorns until they hibernate. Acorns are crucial for bears trying to pack on fat, with one cup of acorns providing around 880 calories. Other foods that bears turn to include, (from top to bottom):

 

• thimbleberry

• elderberry

• chokecherry

• serviceberry

• squawapple

• acorns

• buffaloberry

• gooseberry

• rose hips (the fruit of wild rose)

• twinberry 

all photos by Bryan Peterson. Locations: Perins Peak SWA, Missionary Ridge, Powerline Trail, Lightner Creek and the Smiley Building.

unexpected guest in telluride

A bear was caught checking out the lobby of a Telluride hotel by surveillance camera back in June. Thanks to Joe Lewandowski with the Colorado Division of Wildlife for passing along this clip.

durango-area bear video

I have no idea where this is, other than somewhere around Durango. Not incredibly exciting, but real good footage of a typically colored southwest Colorado brown-phased black bear. This video comes courtesy of youtube user rvelez127. Whomever you are, thanks. 

falls creek dumpsters

Here are two photos of the bear-resistant dumpsters out in the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision. These containers are standard Waste Management dumpsters that staff at Falls Creek modified with metal lids of their own creation. The doors are half-sized so they can be lifted easily and the lids lock using welded-on carabiners. The five dumpsters are located near the entrance to the subdivision and their use has nearly curtailed all bear and trash issues. Well done, Falls Creek!

report bear sightings!

You can report bear sightings and bear activity by clicking the comments link below. Please include the following in your reports: 1) date, 2) address, 3) description of bear(s) and 4) description of bear activity. 

Reports should be in the following format:

10/30. 670 CR 207. Brown female with black cub - in yard, knocked over trash.

welcome: bearsmart blogspot

Thanks for visiting the new Bear Smart blogspot. We were looking for a better way to keep members and volunteers informed on the latest happenings and volunteer opportunities. With this site, you can:

• notify us of any bear sightings

• find out about upcoming events and volunteer efforts

• get the latest updates on Bear Smart efforts

• sign up for memberships or request materials

• comment, or make suggestions

Hopefully, you will find this useful, and USE IT!

Bryan Peterson

Staff / Director

Bear Smart Durango