After a much quieter summer for bear sightings than previous years, there are a few bears that have been reported to have entered Revelstoke. Most noteworthy is the approximate three-year-old black bear that bolted down Mackenzie Avenue last week at 1 p.m., with RCMP officers following. I happened to be downtown at the time and saw the commotion, thinking it could be a bear. But as I am often thinking about bears -- bear education, bear sightings, bears in the news, bear attractants and so on, I decided to forget about it and moved on. The bear ran down Mackenzie with many people watching, and headed for the security cover of CPR Hill.

People watching expressed concern for the bear. This experience will likely service as a negative one for the bear, but it is not the message that we don’t like bears, but in fact will teach the bear that coming into town is not a good thing and the bear will hopefully return to forage for natural forest food. Although we do expect that we may see bears wandering through the community, it is a very dangerous place for bears. The potential that they may come across improperly stored garbage, or unmanaged fruit tree exists and once this happens, it is very difficult for the bear to return to the natural food of the forest. Also, a bear wandering our streets increases the chance for conflict between people and bears, and the potential threat to human safety. Bears are best to remain in the forest feasting on berries -- and from all reports the berry crop is a bumper one this year. This may in fact account for the fewer bear sightings so far this bear season; in years when there has been a particularly poor bear crop and less available natural forest food there have been more bears reported in our community.

Although reported bear sightings are down this season, it doesn’t mean that we can be complacent about our garbage, fruit of other bear attractants like birdseed, pet food or unmanaged compost. A bear was reported carrying off a garbage bag last week and I saw a bear sitting under an apple tree, getting ready to feast a couple of weeks ago. As bears prepare for winter denning the number of hours they spend each day foraging for food increase. The ripened apples, pears and plums will bring bears and unless picked will teach the bears that there is food in town for the taking. If you do see a bear please report it to the Revelstoke Bear Aware phone line at (250) 837-8624 or the Provincial Problem Bear wildlife phone line at 1-877-952-7277. When a sighting is reported, it allows for education to begin. Why was the bear there? Was there an attractant that brought the bear into the community or was the bear just passing through? As the Revelstoke Bear Aware Coordinator I use these sightings to best direct education campaigns and to gain a better understanding of what is happening in the community. By looking at bear sightings from previous years it also allows Revelstoke Bear Aware to determine potential problem areas in town for bears and to increase Bear Aware education in these areas.

Earlier this year a bear hazard map was created for the City of Revelstoke and surrounding area. The map was created using information collected from reported sightings between 2005 and 2008.

It contains information such as frequently used bear travel corridors. It was produced using help from our local Conservation Officer Adam Christie and valuable and much appreciated support of Parks Canada GIS specialist Ron Larsen.

A bear hazard map is one of the criteria required for completing the Ministry of the Environment provincial initiative to become a Bear Smart community.

Locations on the map where an attractant was present were labelled using different coloured bears for each of the major bear attractants, like garbage, fruit, birdseed and chickens.

From the map we learn where bears have been sighted in the community, where the major attractants such as fruit and garbage are most prevalent and it allows predicting where bears are likely to be seen in the future. Again, this information highlights where changes are needed and where to direct education from the Bear Aware program.

If you would like to see the Bear Hazard Map and see bear attractant related sightings in your neighbourhood go to www.revelstokebearaware.org/bear-hazard-map.htm.

For more information about Revelstoke Bear Aware or to become a volunteer please call (250) 837-8624 or e-mail beaware@telus.net. To learn more about the provincial Bear Smart initiative visit www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/bearsmart/bearsmintr.