Better for bruins – and people: New bear-proof containers rolled out

PABLO — They don’t look much different from other black barrel-like garbage containers, but they are — and the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes have 125 of them that will be dispersed to homes that have had bear problems along the Mission Mountain Front.

The bear-resistant containers are rigged with vertical lid release panels that allow a mechanical arm on a garbage truck to pick them up and unload them, unlike other bear-proof containers with latches and levers that require lots of manual attention.

“You don’t have to wrestle with it. You don’t have to mess with the garbage that bears spread around,” said Brad Long, a driver for Allied Waste Services who conducted a demonstration of the new containers with tribal officials Thursday.

Tom McDonald, manager of the tribal wildlife program, said the containers are a “major advancement” in curbing the tendency for bears to become habituated to garbage, and they are just part of a multipronged effort to reduce bear/human conflicts on the Flathead Reservation.

Each year, more than 50 black bears and grizzly bears are trapped and relocated on tribal lands because of conflicts with people. The black bears often are destroyed to protect the public.

The container demonstration was held at the home of Bill and Barb Faust, who volunteered to use the containers over the winter to see they held up with the trucks in harsh weather. Bill Faust said they have lived in their home for more than 20 years, but they didn’t see any bears around the property until about 10 years ago.

Now they see them frequently, and there are visible bear-claw marks on an apple tree in the front yard.

Tribal Warden Pablo Espinoza says there will be firm efforts to reduce bear/human conflicts in the future.

“Our fish and game program would really prefer not to be setting bear traps,” he said, adding that wardens intend to be “really strict” this year about getting residents to clean up food attractants.

“Most of our calls are related to garbage,” he said. “We don’t want to be a taxi service where we are transporting bears for no reason.”

Espinoza said there is a tendency for some residents to expect a trap being set at their place to get rid of the problem bear, rather than securing the foods that attract them. Moving a bear that has become accustomed to food rewards can amount to moving the problem to someone else’s neighborhood.

What’s worse, McDonald added, is that some residents actually aren’t bothered by bears getting into unnatural foods on their property.

“That’s not the right attitude for human safety and the long-term survival of bears,” McDonald said.

George Barce, a tribal wildlife biologist, said he has been working with Allied Waste to develop a map of homes with a history of bear problems, and the 125 containers will be deployed on Mission Front over the next couple weeks.

The containers are fully compatible with Allied Waste trucks, which required no modification.

The tribes were able to purchase the containers with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant, and he predicts Allied and property owners may purchase more on their own.

“I imagine as time goes by, you’ll see more and more of these,” he said.

But the tribes are clamping down on bear-human conflicts in other ways.

Last year, 16,500 bear fliers were sent to Mission Valley residents with information on all aspects of avoiding bear problems.

With a noticeable increase in the number of people raising chickens for economic reasons, bears raiding chicken coops became a growing problem. Last year, the tribes held clinics for people on how to set up electric fencing to protect poultry and livestock.

McDonald noted that Defenders of Wildlife has a cost-share program for people who invest in electric fending to curb conflicts.

McDonald said that over the last decade, the tribes have spent “a lot of money” in purchasing or trading for 30,000 acres of to be protected for wildlife corridor purposes. He said reducing bear/human conflicts will continue to be a tribal priority.

“This is their country, this is their habitat,” he said.