'Tis the season to prepare for bears

‘Tis the season. Not the season of glad tidings and snowmen and Santa’s elves decorating the town up proud, but the season when the robins and their returning cohorts announce the arrival of spring.

The nurseries open back up, and Costco sells out of planter mix on an almost daily basis. Green slowly but surely becomes the predominant color, replacing the brown that melting snow reveals. Spring cleanups are in full swing and vegetable starts are soon to follow. Will you be ready? What is a given is that our local resident bears will be. 

As the days become warmer and longer, beckoning you into the great outdoors, the weather welcomes the bears as they emerge from their winter hibernation. As you thatch and fertilize the lawn and decide which vegetables to plant, the bears are actively searching for food to counteract all those calories lost while denning. Perhaps you have had your first sighting, either up close and personal or on a game camera. If not, rest assured, they are up and active, working their way down from higher elevations in search of an easy meal. You can help ensure that that meal is a natural one, not an appetizer or a full-on feast innocently catered by you or your neighbor. 

What meal might that include? Well, an appetizer might be a bowl of dog food from your back deck along with the sugar-laden hummingbird juice from your feeder hanging so enticingly from the eaves. This might be followed by a visit to an unprotected bag of bird seed or livestock grain, culminating in a main course of free-range chickens. Or perhaps it’s garbage, left out overnight, ready for pick up or transportation to the local transfer site. One thing is for certain, if we humans provide a meal, be it an appetizer or a full three-course affair, the bear (or bears) will be back, looking for more. This creates safety concerns for us and our neighbors, and in some cases when a bear becomes habituated to human foods, can lead to the bear being euthanized. 

There is a myriad of resources readily available to ensure that you only feed your family and any domestic animals you might have, leaving the bears to forage naturally in the woods and backcountry, not your backyard. Below are some helpful tips to help keep bears wild so they don’t become habituated to human foods: 

-Bears are generally active from March 15 until Dec. 15. Remove all bird feeders after March 15.  

-Store all pet and livestock feed plus human food and garbage in hard-sided garages or sheds. Bear-resistant garbage containers are loaned out indefinitely and for free by Swan Valley Bear Resources at 406-754-3137.  

-Install electric fencing to protect chickens, livestock, bees, orchards, compost and any other bear attractants. Swan Valley Bear Resources does free property consultations, electric fence design, help with cost-share funding and installation.  

-Report any bear conflicts to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks bear management specialists. For the Bigfork area, Erik Wenum is the area’s specialist. Please contact Erik at 406-250-0062. 

If you’re interested in learning more in-person, please attend the upcoming Bear Awareness and Bear Spray Training Event at the Bigfork VFW on May 23 and the Bear Fair at the Swan River Community Hall on June 27. See swanvalleyconnections.org/events for more information. 

For further information, visit swanvalleyconnections.org/swan-valley-bear-resources or call 406-754-3137.  If you’re interested in helping Bear Aware Bigfork volunteer efforts to get the word out, please send an email to [email protected]. For more information on bear safety, visit fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management/bear. 

Thanks for being bear aware and a good neighbor! 

Chris Moore is the bear aware Bigfork volunteer for Swan Valley Connections.