Following a year that saw four bears killed in Revelstoke and the surrounding area, Revelstoke Bear Aware (RBA) is urging local residents to secure their garbage and glean their fruit trees. Last Thursday the local non-profit organization held its annual general meeting at the Community Centre, and they say they have big plans for 2018.
“One of the big goals for this year is to figure out how to provide a cost-effective bear resistant bin for local residents,” said Maggie Spizzirri, the RBA community outreach coordinator.
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The AGM came following a year that saw RBA partner with the Local Food Initiative (LFI) to harvest 1,700 lbs. of fruit. About 25 per cent of that fruit was donated to the local food bank. LFI managed the harvest and preparation.
In 2017 RBA delivered 22 presentations, contributed to three City Council meetings, and held three workshops.
Through those events they reached a total of 1,350 people.
They conducted two door-to-door campaigns in partnership with the Conservation Office Service.
In their 2017 annual report the local non-profit identified garbage disposal methods as the major cause of bear-human encounters.
Last year 154 reports concerning black bears were made to RBA and the Conservation Office Service.
Sixty-six per cent of those incidents involved garbage being the major attractant. Thirty-three per cent were related to fruit trees. Four of those incidents involved bears breaking into homes and destroying property.
According to RBA, all of the garbage-related calls involved bears getting into garbage that was put out for collection.
As a result, they are currently working to provide a solution to that problem in conversation with the City.
A product of an ongoing dialogue, last year the City of Revelstoke installed bear resistant bins downtown, and implemented a Wildlife and Garbage Attractant bylaw.
Council approved the Revelstoke Wildlife Attractant By-Law in May 2017.
The bylaw was passed after the North Columbia Environmental Society (NCES) and RBA approached the City in 2016.
RBA was formed in 1996.
Spizzirri said that before that an average of 25 to 50 bears were killed annually.
Since the program started the numbers have dwindled to an average of six or seven a year.
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