Government funding for the province’s Bear Aware program is expected to continue after a report by the CBC last Wednesday indicated otherwise.

On Wednesday program coordinator Jacques Drisdell told the CBC, “”We were advised that this coming year, due to fiscal conditions, we wouldn’t see funding that (the province) would provide.”

When reached by the Times Review Friday afternoon, Drisdell was more upbeat. “Reports have changed in the past 12 hours,” he said. “Because of our strong ties with the government things will be business as usual next year.”

Penny Page-Brittin, the coordinator of the Revelstoke Bear Aware Society, was happy to hear that government funding would not be eliminated.

“It’s fabulous for us. It makes it easier for our society,” she said. Before our call she had been under the impression the money would not be forthcoming. Still, she said, she still needs to apply to the British Columbia Conservation Foundation, which administers Bear Aware, for the funding.

The Bear Aware program works to increase education about bears and reduce contact between humans and bears in urban areas. It was launched in Revelstoke in 1996 in response to increasing bear-human contact. According to the society, an average of less than seven bears are killed each year, down from an average of 27 prior to the society’s formation.

The society also receives funding from the Columbia Basin Trust Community Initiatives fund, Parks Canada, the City of Revelstoke, and local businesses, among others. Additionally several volunteers help run the programs educational initiatives, fruit picking, and garbage tagging.

The amount of money coming from the government for next year has not been released yet, but this year it is $100,000, down from from $250,000 last year.

The continued funding will help the Revelstoke Bear Aware Society become a Bear Smart society. To become Bear Smart, Page-Brittin said Revelstoke is working on a set of bylaws consistent with the bear/human conflict management plan, and developing a bear-proof solid waste management system.

A pilot program for bear-proof garbage bins is being run in the Johnson Heights area. Page-Brittin said information from the project will be available at the end of this bear season, later in the Fall.

“The whole Bear Smart Community provincial initiative, Revelstoke Bear Aware is working hard at moving forward with that and we should have a better idea of where we’re at by the end of this bear season,” said Page-Brittin.

When completed, Revelstoke would become the first Bear Smart certified community in the province.