Creating a bear-friendly Bozeman, Montana
This opinion piece was originally published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle as an opinion piece by GYC’s Volgenau Foundation Wildlife Conservation Associate Blakeley Adkins.
Imagine being able to smell a huckleberry pie from miles away. Now imagine you are about to crawl into a hole for six months to wait out winter, so getting calories on board is paramount. If you are a grizzly or black bear, not only could you smell that delicious pie from afar, you could use your superior schnozzola to pinpoint its exact location. Because packing on the pounds is the most important thing a bear can do this time of year, strong smells that promise a calorie reward are highly motivating to them.
A grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park. (Photo © GoeddelGallery.com)
It’s easy to forget we live in bear country in a bustling city like Bozeman. But reports of bears wandering through Bozeman are becoming more common. Bears are spotted in town from April to December, with spikes in sightings in the spring and fall. Most of these are black bears, but as grizzly populations increase, their chance of visiting town will too.
When calorie-motivated bears are lured into town by the aromas of garbage, dirty grills, compost piles, or bird feeders they learn to associate humans with energy-rich foods that are frankly a lot easier to forage for than berries, roots, and nuts. This is especially true in years where drought has made natural food sources harder to come by. Stressed and desperate for the nutrients that will get them through winter, bears are emboldened to come into town, where they pose a risk to people, pets, and themselves. Where human safety is concerned, bears get the short end of the stick. Last year, nine bears were euthanized as a result. Many people point fingers at wildlife managers when this happens, but bear specialists prefer bears stay alive and healthy and hate having to put them down. When bears get into conflict in urban areas, we need to take a hard look at ourselves.
There are ways Bozeman can be more bear friendly. Right now, the City of Bozeman is conducting a pilot program in southeast Bozeman—which has been identified as a high-conflict area due to its proximity to bear habitat—to educate residents on how to keep bears out of garbage and to offer bear-resistant trash cans for a small additional monthly change. Bear-resistant cans are also available to residents of Gallatin County who use Republic or L & L Site Services for their household waste management.
Bozeman can also look to other Montana communities that have taken measures to reduce conflict, such as Missoula, Red Lodge, Whitefish, West Yellowstone, Big Sky, and Gardiner. Gardiner uses the revenue generated by their resort tax to help purchase bear-resistant trash cans for residents, and many residents take pride in the fact that they are doing their part to ensure the bears that roam through town stay out of trouble.
GYC’s Blakeley Adkins at the Livingston Bear Fair which highlighted bear safety, how to use bear spray, and bear-resistant trash cans. (Photo GYC/Kristin Kuhn)
Our neighbors to the north have also been promoting bear-smart communities for years. The Get Bear Smart Society is a program across Canada which sets standards for community planning, waste management, and more. It’s made huge strides in reducing conflict and minimizing the number of bears killed.
But you don’t need to wait for a program in order to be a better neighbor to bears. Store your trash in your garage or shed until the morning of pick up. Call your waste hauler to see if they offer bear-resistant trash cans. Avoid leaving pet food outside, put your chickens in a coop at night, take down bird feeders from April to December, pick backyard fruit as soon as it’s ripe, and keep compost in a bear-resistant container. Don’t forget to clean your grill thoroughly after each use, too. It has been shown that when at least 60 percent of residents comply with best practices, conflicts decrease significantly.
We’re lucky to live in a place with such incredible access to the natural world. With that privilege comes the responsibility to be good neighbors to local wildlife.
—Blakeley Adkins, Volgenaeu Foundation wildlife conservation associate
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is the land of 49+ Indigenous Tribes who maintain current and ancestral connections to the lands, waters, wildlife, plants, and more.
