Campers and hikers should prepare to share the great outdoors with their furry neighbors in the coming weeks, as bear season is upon us.
Due to heightened bear activity, the White River National Forest closed the Avalanche Campground north of Redstone on Friday. Several “emboldened” black bears have been frequenting the area, according to a news release from the U.S. Forest Service.
The release points to a recent incident involving a bruin that destroyed a tent. While no one was injured, bears have been active while people were present in the campground, and not only when they are attracted by food. The campground is likely to remain closed through Labor Day weekend.
Bears are particularly active this year due to a lack of natural food sources, according to Matt Yamashita, area wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
“We knew this year had the potential to be a difficult natural food year for bears and it has definitely turned into just that,” he said. “There is decent berry production along the river corridors, but other than that, it’s not great. We have seen a significant increase in bear activity.”
Yamashita added that the frequency and severity of bear conflicts has increased as well. As summer turns into fall, bears spend up to 20 hours a day searching for food in preparation for winter hibernation, the release says. Nearly all interactions between humans and bears are food-related, and Yamashita added that most of them are preventable.
Bear activity also has increased in municipalities this year, and Yamashita said that it’s not a question of whether you will see a bear in town, but a question of when.
“Everywhere you go, we’re starting to see an increase,” he said. “Of note, in Aspen here in the past week, we’re averaging two to five houses broken into a night.”
That number is lower than in years past, but has significantly grown since last month. Officer Ginna Gordon said the Aspen Police Department has responded to 102 bear-related calls in 2021, and 27% of those have happened in August. The department anticipates an uptick in bear-related calls every year at this time of year, but not always on this scale.
“One of the trends we’re seeing is an uptick in bears entering homes,” Gordon said. “We’ve had six calls involving a bear entering a residence this month.”
Bears can easily break through screens, doors and windows, so it is important for residents to bear-proof their homes, Gordon said. The police department advises residents to remove any bird feeders from their yards, feed pets indoors, store garbage in bear-resistant containers, keep ground-floor windows and entries locked and shut, and remove fruit including crabapples from fruit trees in yards.
Bears activity also is on the rise downvalley. Yamashita said CPW officers have been patrolling streets at night and encountered bears on at least a dozen nights in Glenwood Springs this month.
Carbondale Police Department public information officer Anna Ramirez said there have been four bear-related calls this month, and the department is seeing a higher volume of calls related to bears than in the previous month. People also are calling to ask for more bear control in the area, she said, not only when they have an interaction with a bear.
“Follow the bear ordinance, don’t feed the bears,” Ramirez said. “If you do not have a bear-resistant trash can, you can’t take it out before 6 a.m. on trash collection day. It must be enclosed, and make sure a bear can’t get in.”
The town of Carbondale also provides bear-resistant trash cans to residents who need one for a fee, Ramirez said.
Yamashita also encouraged residents to continue to be proactive and responsible in preparing for a bear encounter. The sooner a bear sighting or conflict is reported, the sooner it can be addressed.
CPW officers can haze bears out of certain areas where they know activity is high, and doing so has reduced call volume, Yamashita said. Bears aren’t out by accident, he added, and their aggressive behavior is a result of bears knowing where to find food.
“Especially in a year like this, there’s no community that’s immune to this, and everybody needs to be doing their part,” he said.
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August 28, 2021 at 04:00PM
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Increased bear activity leads to Avalanche Campground closure - Aspen Daily News
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