FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, November 21, 2024 

Contacts:  

Emilie Ritter, eritter@greateryellowstone.org 

London Bernier, lbernier@greateryellowstone.org 

Reporters: Photos are available for download 

Bear Awareness Gardiner and Greater Yellowstone Coalition Install Bear-Proof Trash Cans at Gardiner Public Schools    
Gardiner Bruins protect bruins, and students, by securing garbage

What happens when your school mascot shows up on campus? For the Gardiner Bruins, three new bear-proof trash cans made possible by Bear Awareness Gardiner and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition will keep students and bears safe by securing garbage. 

Aptly represented, Gardiner Public Schools sits at the northern border of Yellowstone National Park along the Yellowstone River, in prime grizzly and black bear country. 

In fact, the west end of the school building is in Yellowstone. In recent years, a bear and her cubs were spotted on campus. This spring, wolves killed and ate an elk in the middle of the school’s football field. 

“Gardiner, Montana might be home to the wildest setting for a K-12 school in the Lower 48,” said Evan Stout, program organizer for Bear Awareness Gardiner. “Bear Awareness Gardiner’s goal to keep our residents safe and our wildlife neighbors out of trouble makes getting these cans to the school an easy decision. We appreciate GYC’s support and cooperation to help our community, both human and wild.” 

While up-close encounters with wildlife are thrilling, they present safety issues for humans and animals. If wildlife become used to humans and less fearful, they often have to be removed from the landscape. In Gardiner, bears have been removed after getting into garbage and other attractants like apple trees, grills, and pet food.  

To prevent bears from coming onto the school campus and getting into garbage, Bear Awareness Gardiner, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and Gardiner Public Schools partnered to install bear-proof garbage containers on the school grounds. 

“Securing trash is easy and one of the most beneficial steps we can take to live alongside bears and reduce conflicts. It is important we are not teaching bears that they will get human food rewards by coming into town,” said the Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s Volgenau Wildlife Conservation Associate Blakeley Adkins. “GYC is proud to partner with Bear Awareness Gardiner and the Gardiner School on this project.” 

Jeannette Bray, superintendent at Gardiner Public Schools shared, “We would very much like to thank Bear Awareness Gardiner and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition for their generous donation. The school has, for years, been trying to get bear-proof trash cans and this was such a great surprise for us. While students love them, our custodial and maintenance staff love them even more. They are an addition to the school that is needed, and we are proud to showcase them.” 

-30-

Bear Awareness Gardiner is a program under Bear Creek Council to reduce human-bear conflicts in the Gardiner Basin. It began in 2009, and accomplishes its mission by providing free bear-resistant trash cans to all residents, and cost sharing solutions for local businesses. We also have a loan out electric fencing program, volunteer fruit tree gleaning program, do education and outreach throughout the year, and have free bear spray giveaway program. 

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is a regional conservation organization based in Bozeman, Montana. Its five field offices, strategically placed in Idaho, Wyoming, and on the Wind River Indian Reservation, create opportunities to work with all people to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem now, and for future generations. For more than 40 years, GYC and our supporters have advocated for a science-driven, collaboration-focused, and forward-thinking approach to keeping lands wild, rivers free-flowing, and iconic wildlife moving throughout a connected and vibrant landscape.