Kimberley has begun the process to get certified as a Bear Smart community.
The Bear Smart Community Program, designed and run by The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy in partnership with the British Columbia Conservation Foundation and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, is a voluntary, preventative conservation measure that encourages communities, businesses and individuals to work together. The goal is to address the root causes of human/bear conflicts, thereby reducing the risks to human safety and private property, as well as the number of bears that have to be destroyed each year.
“This initiative comes under our Environmental Stewardship strategic priority,” said Mayor Don McCormick. “It may seem like a lot, but we have been down this path before with the Deer Committee that was formed way back in 2010. The Bear Smart initiative mirrors many of the things we did as part of those efforts. We are forming a Bear Stewardship Committee to organize and move this forward.”
According to WildSafeBC, whose local coordinator Danica Lisk, is guiding Kimberley through the process, there are a number of criteria required for a community to be considered Bear Smart.
• Prepare a bear hazard assessment of the community and surrounding area.
• Prepare a bear-human conflict management plan that is designed to address the bear hazards and land-use conflicts identified in the previous step.
• Revise planning and decision-making documents to be consistent with the bear-human conflict management plan.
• Implement a continuing education program, directed at all sectors of the community.
• Develop and maintain a bear-resistant municipal solid waste management system.
• Implement “Bear Smart” bylaws prohibiting the provision of food to bears as a result of intent, neglect, or irresponsible management of attractants.
McCormick says Kimberley is currently at the very beginning of the process, preparing the bear hazard assessment.
The Bear Hazard Assessment will direct the creation of a management plan. The assessment tracks travel corridors, natural food sources such as berry patches, breeding areas and denning areas. It also tracks non-natural food sources, such as transfer stations, litter barrels, orchards, residential garbage collection routes and downtown dumpsters.
The assessment has identified areas of Kimberley that are higher risk for bear encounters, for instance Townsite and downtown have moderate to high risk. Upper and Lower Blarcmont, Chapman Camp, Creekside Trailer Park and the north end of Marysville are high risk.
The bear-human conflict management plan will:
• Develop strategies to resolve bear hazards and potential bear-human conflict areas.
• Identify preferred wildlife movement corridors around the community and any work required to restore natural corridors that may have been interrupted by human activity/development (e.g., this may require moving facilities to other, less intrusive areas).
• Direct the removal of cover by brushing vegetation to reduce hazards (e.g., removing brush around portions of parks, school yards, golf courses and in areas adjacent to residences in high-risk attraction areas).
• Develop a community landscape plan that avoids the use of fruit trees and other plants that may act as attractants and calls for the removal of existing fruit trees that are causing problems. Include specific strategies to address bear management associated with any landfill closures or electric fence installations.
• Assess the costs of the various bear management strategies and make recommendations on a budget cycle to finance implementation of the plan.
• Implement a process for overseeing the implementation of the bear-human management plan (e.g., establish a bear-human conflicts committee).
Steps following the management plan include implementing a continuing education program, maintaining a bear-resistant municipal solid waste management system and introducing bear smart bylaws (which Kimberley already did with deer).
As of 2022, there were 10 B.C. communities certified as Bear Smart.
READ: Bear Smart status helps, but two West Kootenay communities still struggled last summer
