"bear paws" fundraiser at Kroegers

Shop at Kroegers Ace Hardware at Town Plaza and buy a $1 or $5 "Bear Paw" to support Bear Smart Durango! Customers (county residents only) buying a $5 paw are entered in a drawing to win a FREE bear-resistant residential trash container, courtesy of the great folks at Phoenix Recycling! Drawing to be held soon - so don't miss out! Photo from 2010.

2011 elementary school classroom program

Bear Smart Durango has contracted Katie Maloney to serve as Educational Program Coordinator for “I’m a Bear Smart Kid!” elementary school classroom programs, starting this fall school season.

This free, educational, hands-on program on bear ecology and being Bear Smart is available to area 3rd thru 5th grade classrooms.

Katie has worked in environmental education throughout Colorado, for organizations such as Durango Nature Studies and the Environmental Learning Center in Fort Collins, CO.

For more information or to schedule a 50-minute classroom presentation:

Katie Maloney

Bear Smart Durango

Educational Program Coordinator

970-779-0277

bearsmart.education@gmail.com

meet here for Bear Hike on TH. July 7

Bear Hike participants are asked to meet TH, July 7 at 5:45PM at the gravel parking lot entrance of Perins Peak SWA at the intersection of Lightner Creek Rd and Dry Fork Rd (orange marker on map). Look for the Bear Smart truck and a black bear plywood cutout.

Bears in trash: June 2011

GPS mapping of reports of bears in trash within city limits for the month of June 2011. (Click on photos for larger views).

Bear Smart Durango Seeks Educators

Bear Smart Durango is seeking applicants for a part-time, seasonal, paid education specialist who can provide classroom lessons on black bears and living with wildlife to elementary school students. This position will begin at the start of the fall school year; volunteer opportunities are available for the summer as well.

For more information please contact Bryan Peterson at (970) 749-4262 or e-mail bp@frontier.net.

Note: photos courtesy of Bow Valley WildSmart, Canmore, Alberta, CAN.

Bear Botany Walk in Perins!

Bear Smart Durango is thrilled to team up with Eve Gilmore and the San Juan Four Corners Native Plant Society for a Bear Botany walk in Perins Peak SWA this Thursday, June 16 from 7-8PM. The walk is easy and attendees should leave with a better understanding of spring plants, black bears and the native foods they rely on to survive in the wild.

Attendees should meet by 6:30PM at the SE corner of Albertson's parking lot (map below) - for carpooling to the trailhead. Long pants are highly recommended.

This is a FREE event. Contact Bryan at Bear Smart at 970-749-4262 or bp@frontier.net for more information.

Website for "Living with Bears"

PixyJack Press has a new website for the book, Living with Bears: A Practical Guide to Bear Country, by author

Linda Masterson.

Living with Bears is the ultimate hands-on guide to living responsibly and playing safely anywhere bears call home. It's a book that's fun to read, easy to reference, and packed with practical information, useful tips, and advice from bear experts all over the continent.

"We recommend Living with Bears to all our property owners, and we sell it in the office. It makes it much easier to get people to understand what they need to do to prevent bear problems." — Jim Tiffin, Crystal Lakes Homeowner's Association, Colorado.

There's even a chapter in the book about Bear Smart Durango!

We have a number of the books available for sale and if you'd like a copy, or copies, let us know.

Bear expert Rachel Mazur at Smiley on May 17

Bear Smart Durango hosts an evening slideshow presentation with bear researcher Rachel Mazur, a recognized expert in black bear ecology and management from Reno, Nevada.

Rachel Mazur: Black bear facts, figures, findings, and some really cute cub photos

• Tues. May 17

• 7PM

Smiley Theater, 1309 E. Third Ave.

$7 for adults / $5 for children under 12

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Doors open at 6PM

• Free Ska beer

• Live music provided by Group Shower

• Door prizes

This event was made possible with the generous support of Ska Brewing Company, Zuberfizz, The Smiley Building, Gardenswartz Outdoors and Maria’s Bookshop.

More info? Contact Bear Smart at bp@frontier.net or 749-4262.

Dr. Rachel Mazur is a recognized expert in black bear ecology and management. Her research into aversive conditioning, social behavior, food storage, and foraging patterns has been published in scientific journals and is regularly featured in the media. She is also an award-winning author of the children's book, "If You Were A Bear." Rachel has also worked as a wildlife manager for over a decade, successfully reducing human-bear incidents by over 50% in high-profile areas of the western U.S.

bear film on city channel 10

The wonderful film, "Bears of Sequoia" airs on City Channel 10 through April 12. The film features bear researcher Rachel Mazur, guest speaker for an upcoming Bear Smart Durango educational event in May. Air times are:

Mon - 8:30 AM, 10:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 2:30 PM, 4:30 PM


Tue- 8:30 AM, 10:30 AM, 4:30 PM


2009 CDOW hair snag study

The preliminary report for the ongoing Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) hair snag study entitled, "Non-Invasive DNA-Based Black Bear Density Estimates in Colorado - 2009," may be found on google docs, here.

Survey sites for the study were located near Tinidad and Glenwood Springs. The photo below, from the Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project, is representational of a hair snag survey location, only.

Bear Film at The Back Space Theatre

The Back Space Theatre in partnership with Bear Smart Durango presents a showing of the film, “In The Company of Bears” as part of their post tour of films from the International Wildlife Film Festival, Thursday, March 31 at 6 p.m.

This film examines the relationship between people and bears, told through the eyes and experiences of Canadian black bear researcher, Michael Allen. It takes place in Whistler, British Columbia, where for the past 30 years bears and people have been living in great numbers. Michael's experiences and insight gives us hope that we may come to better understand bears, and make room for them in our world. Running time: 49 minutes.

A second film, “A Woman Among Wolves” follows after a brief intermission. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for children and free for Bear Smart Durango members. Memberships will be available at the door the night of the event. For more information, email bp@frontier.net or call (970) 749-4262.

Seating is limited. The film will also be shown Sunday, April 3 at 11 a.m.

The Back Space Theatre

1120 Main Ave. Suite 2

Phone: (970) 259-7940

2010 Bear Summary Report

Bear Smart Durango compiled a summary of the 2010 Bear Incident & Sighting data in a printed report that was presented to city and county policy makers last month. This report was made possible only with considerable help from the following: Colorado Division of Wildlife, The Durango Herald, Ecosphere Environmental Services, Heather Johnson/CDOW Mammal Research, Living with Wildlife Advisory Board of La Plata County, City of Durango and La Plata County Government. Special thanks to: Town of Mancos, Town of Telluride, Town of Vail, City of Aspen, City of Ouray and Town of Snowmass Village.

In addition, in 2010, in our area (Area 15):

• 18 bears were killed as nuisances or shot by landowner

• 10 bears were killed by vehicles, or other

• 20 bears were relocated

You can view a pdf of this Summary Report.

fun fact for the day

The Durango area had more reports of bears getting into trash in one day in July 2010 than the Ohio Division of Wildlife received for the entire year.

You can read about an increase in black bear reports in Ohio here.