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Living in bear country requires new strategies - By Buzzy Hassrick
This document was published online on Monday, July 17, 2006
Standing about 30 feet from the paper predator, Ethan Mygrant explains how he prepares for defense.
Flip back the orange safety catch and push down the lever for one shot.
“It doesn't have to be long,” he says. “Aim at its head.”
“Down a little bit's better than high,” adds Andy Johnson, Game and Fish Department bear management officer.
Ethan, a 9-year-old from Powell, was explaining what he learned about using pepper spray to fend off bears after instruction by Johnson. The instruction was offered during Bear Aware Day at Wapiti School on Saturday.
The event, which included programs, attracted about 200 people, said Dana Courtney, G&F bear wise community coordinator. It was organized by the North Fork Bear Wise Group and G&F.
The educational aspects included information about food rewards that bears receive and landscaping for wildlife. Participants could partake of the food provided by Ethan's parents through their PaPaw Tom's BBQ.
Like Ethan, Helen and Joseph Venier of Wapiti learned about using bear spray. The practice canister, instead of pungent pepper, contained a non-irritant.
The Veniers have a canister on their kitchen counter, but have never used it.
“And we don't want the occasion,” Helen added, “but I really wanted to learn how to use it.”
Joseph said possession affords precaution.
“When you have it, you don't need it,” he said. “When you need it, you don't have it.”
Another couple learned about bear spray, Andy and Sharon Balkus, East Coast residents living in South America and visiting Wyoming. They'll be hiking in Yellowstone Park.
“We want all the information we can get,” Sharon said. “We love the country.”
“Bears are great,” Andy added. He said they're mysterious and misunderstood, since they don't often attack people.
Sharon appreciated the opportunity to learn about using bear spray.
“The hands-on experience is important,” she said.
The Balkuses, who may move here, learned about landscaping from Bobbie Holder, University of Wyoming horticulturist. Her talk transcended planting to keep away bears into a discussion of “wise landscaping,” she said.
“Landscaping must meet a multitude of criteria,” she said, such as considerations for all wildlife, humans and fires.
Further, living in an area bordering wild land brings other considerations such as feeding birds can attract bears and feeding deer can attract mountain lions.
“It's the natural order. They follow each other,” Holder said. “(Landscaping) needs to be well thought out.”
The prime attractant for bears is garbage, according to the North Fork Bear Wise Group. The members - Lee Ann Hand, Theresa Lineberger, Lance Wead, David Jamison, Cindy Catterton, Dick Geving and G&F's Courtney - had complied a list of the top four food rewards from 1993-2005 and plotted the incidents on a map.
“The garbage issue is huge,” Hand said.
While some areas with bears have imposed orders about garbage-control, Hand said her group hopes voluntary compliance will work on the North Fork.
The other food rewards, after garbage, came from dog food/livestock feed, followed by fruits and bird feeders. To ensure secure feed storage, the group offers grain barrels to Wapiti residents.
One resident who's had numerous bears on her property, Lineberger said they didn't start appearing until six years ago. She lives a mile west of the school and has fruit trees planted by the original homesteaders.
“The apple trees have been there forever,” she said. “They come because they need to eat.”
Bear numbers are growing and the habitat is shrinking, Lineberger added.
To prevent bears from getting food rewards, she has placed an electric fence around the garbage, hangs no bird feeders and ensures livestock feed is secure. One factor she can't control is the irrigation ditch through her land that appeals to bears.
“They follow the green,” Lineberger said.
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