Living alongside wildlife

There are some things that seem very obvious when you live in a place that backs up to wildlands where bears live, and, high among them, is the responsibility of humans to do everything we can to avoid tempting that wildlife to leave their home — and natural diets — and dine on our trash.

Why? Because bears, like many living things, especially humans, will opt for the easiest way to get calories. And because bears are bigger and have claws and sharp teeth, they will become more and more threatening the more habituated they get to human food. This is why we have rules about keeping garbage and compost in bear-proof containers and why there are often rangers at popular trailheads who are eager to talk to anyone about things like “how to be bear-aware.”

Still, every year, some people underestimate the impact they can have on bears, or they simply don’t want to be inconvenienced and so leave out food, trash, etc. This attracts bears and sets everyone up for failure. As the rangers say: “A fed bear is a dead bear.” What they don’t say but probably should is that anyone who interacts with bears — intentionally or not — is courting danger.

Black bears can stalk people, charge and maul them, and will attack dogs or other domestic pets. They can run fast and climb trees. Put simply: they can be quite terrifying. I’ve encountered numerous bears on trail runs on OSMP over the years, and I always give them a wide berth. But if one of them were to ramble into my yard in search of calories, I have no doubt that they could become a threat.

So, yes. Our community should invest even more resources in teaching residents and visitors about the very real and potential threats associated with bears and how to avoid them.

The amount of grant money announced by Gov. Polis for Boulder, specifically, isn’t grand — $145,500 — but neither is it paltry. The challenge will be to amplify the messaging for the two Boulder recipients, Boulder County Human-bear Conflict Reduction Program (what a mouthful! First order of business: come up with a better name that has a memorable acronym) and Community Fruit Rescue. So long as they make a big effort to reach new audiences, the benefits to both bears and humans will likely be tangible.

— Rachel Walker, rodellwalker@gmail.com

Yes, we should change how we interact with wildlife. Six hundred bears have been euthanized over the past five years and the number is increasing. We should stop killing animals that wander into our town, especially if we have enticed them to do so. If the animal hasn’t attacked us, it shouldn’t be eliminated. I understand the urge to destroy the animal before it attacks a person, but such attacks are incredibly rare. This risk is a reasonable price to pay for living amongst and being able to view wildlife.

Of course, people should be allowed to defend themselves and their property. The moose that attacked a couple and their dog was rightfully put down. But people should be, and some are, required to secure their homes and their trash against animals foraging.

Two Boulder organizations recently won grants to help reduce potential interactions with animals. Boulder County’s Human-bear Conflict Reduction Program tries to reduce interaction by mostly securing trash in bear-proof receptacles. These new funds should help extend the use of such receptacles further east.

One organization receiving a grant surprised me but only because of my ignorance. It was the Community Fruit Rescue. Rescuing fruit? How does that help bears? Well, it’s all about gleaning. Gleaning? I wondered as well. It’s collecting and harvesting unused fruit. Colorado has a surprising number of apple trees, and lots of our apples are wasted and the ripe fruit on the trees and rotting fruit on the ground entice hungry bears. Community Fruit Rescue organizes local harvests to avoid this waste. The harvests benefit the harvesters, the tree owners, the hungry and they reduce interactions between humans and bears.

The good news is that Colorado bears are thriving. We have 20,000 bears and the population is growing. This growth increases competition among the bears and that increases the chances of bears visiting town. Extending the bear-hunting season has been proposed as a possible solution, but I’d rather see more grants like these. Or maybe we need to teach the bears to hunt deer, as we have plenty of them.

— Bill Wright, bill@wwwright.com

In 2013, Colorado wildlife officials put down four “nuisance” bears in the City of Boulder.

As a result, citizens led by the Boulder Bear Coalition urged the city to develop a proactive approach to prevent negative human-bear conflicts. Given that there is no way to keep bears out of Boulder, the city’s response focused on the primary urban attractant for the bears: residential garbage. The city mandated the locking of refuse containers west of Broadway and implemented significant fines for failure to comply.

Boulder’s program has been a success in decreasing bear mortality. During the eight years since the bear protection ordinance went into effect in early 2014, wildlife officials have euthanized only three bears in Boulder. Additionally, an extensive study carried out in Durango from 2011-2017 further validated Boulder’s approach. That study identified securing human refuse as the key variable in managing human-black bear conflicts. A critical mass of residents must secure their trash for the strategy to work. Through enforcement, Boulder appears to have reached the minimum compliance level.

Additionally, by encouraging the local refuse service to implement automatic locks on trash containers, additional levels of compliance were achieved.

Boulder was ahead of the curve. In 2015, the Colorado legislature directed Colorado Parks and Wildlife to provide information and evaluate management tools regarding the growing number of human-bear interactions statewide. Last week, the governor announced grants to reduve human-bear conflict. Not surprisingly, much of the funding focuses on expanding the use and availability of bearproof trash containers across the state. Recipients include Boulder County for securing trash in Jamestown and Lyons.

The city must remain vigilant. Boulder’s encampments, where food and trash are unsecured, can be an attractant. Additionally, black bears have a greater incentive to forage within the city during those years when natural food sources become scarce in the foothills. If bear activity increases east of Broadway, Boulder may need to expand the geographic reach of the ordinance.

Boulder politics can be divisive, but in this instance, citizens came together in a productive manner that served as an example for the state. A special thanks to the Boulder Bear Coalition and city wildlife officials for helping to get us there.

— Andrew Shoemaker, Ashoemaker@sgslitigation.com