The purpose of Bear Aware is to prevent and reduce human-bear conflicts in our communities. Management of bear attractants is the most important step in controlling ‘bear problems’. This in turn will increase human safety and decrease the number of bears destroyed each year.

The following bear attractants should be managed to ensure bears don’t move into your neighbourhood:
Garbage:  Store garbage in a secure building.  Business Owners: lock or use a metal carabiner to secure your dumpster day and night.
Fruit trees: Pick fruit and let ripen indoors.  If you do not use the fruit spray blossoms in spring, prune, or replace tree with a native, non-fruit bearing variety or have the Columbia Valley Fruit Swap set you up with someone that wants fruit at 250-688-0561.
Birdfeeders:  Seed and sugar water is full of calories, birds do not need food in the summer, take down from April to December. Replace with bird baths, flowers that attract birds and bird houses.
Compost:  Turn regularly.
BBQs: Clean and burn off excess grease, clean grease trap after every use.   Business Owners: ensure you have a bear resistant grease bin.
Pet Food:  Feed pets and store pet food indoors.
Bear Safety (BEAR)
Be prepared: carry bear spray, if camping bring rope to hang food and other attractants on a tree, have a noise maker (your voice or tin can with rocks inside to string on your back pack or shake with hand)
Education: know your facts, watch Staying Safe in Bear Country video, get familiar with predatory vs defensive encounter.
Avoidance: out on the trails look for signs of bears by scat and markings, make noise and stay in large groups (at least three or more), set up your tent far away from cooking site (at least 100m away), and store food out of reach (at least four metres from ground and 1.3 m from top and side supports), always clean up and pack out what you pack in.
Reaction:  When you see a bear know what your reaction is going to be. You need to decipher whether the bear is predatory or defensive.  This is where education is important, you need to know what to do in a bear encounter.  Every encounter is going to be different because every bear is different.  The basic thing you need to know is stay calm, speak in a calm voice and slowly move away to a safe area.

DO NOT run or turn your back to the bear.
Next time you see a bear in your community it’s always a good idea to call the RAPP line : 1877-952-7277(RAPP). That way Bear Aware can help minimize attractants before bears get conditioned to finding food in our communities. Also, it’s a great way to document sightings, check out sightings on the Bear Aware website www.bearaware.bc.ca .
Crystal Leonard

Radium Bear Aware

Contact Crystal at: [email protected] or 250-688-0561

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