Sightings in and around our communities: No bear sightings reported for the last two weeks.

You may have seen Bear Aware at the local markets and other public events because this summer has been full of public displays in Invermere and Radium. There has been a great amount of positive feedback; people approach with such things as “I didn’t realize birdfeeders were a bear attractant so I took mine down.” It’s great to hear that we are making an impact because every little effort counts in helping to minimize human-bear conflict.

Bear Aware has a display set up every Friday starting at 11 a.m. beside the Info Centre kiosk in downtown Invermere (beside Dave’s Book Bar). Please feel free to visit and find out where the bears are hanging out or to ask any bear-related questions.

I would like to put out great big thanks to the some very kind people that live at 13th Avenue and 5th Street for being proactive with their garbage. They approached Bear Aware about properly storing their garbage because they did not want to attract bears to the neighbourhood. At present, Bear Aware is looking into different bear-resistant containers that would work for our community. If you do not have a secure location such as a garage to store your garbage, you are encouraged to purchase a bear-resistant bin. Not only will it prevent bears from accessing your garbage, but it will also keep deer, skunks and crows out as well. Please contact the Bear Aware Community Co-ordinator for more information.

An interesting thing to check out is the new www.facebook.com/bearawarebc page, on which we post bear-related news from Bear Aware communities around the province. If you “Like” us, you’ll get the site updates automatically sent to your Facebook page. You can also check out www.bearaware.bc.ca/bear-sightings-new which is the mapping program associated with the provincial RAPP line (Report All Poachers and Polluters). It’s really interesting to see the different types of wildlife sightings around town to know what’s in your neighbourhood. This week shows that cougars have been sighted near Radium and south of Columbia Lake.

There seems to be an increase of cougar sightings, possibly due to the fact that there’s more deer in the communities.

Bear Aware is currently looking for volunteers — if you’re tired of seeing bears needlessly get destroyed due to unmanaged attractants, please call the Bear Aware Community Co-ordinator.

For more information on Bear Aware contact Crystal Leonard, Bear Aware Community Co-ordinator  at 250-688-0561, invermere@bearaware.bc.ca or radium@bearaware.bc.ca.

For more solutions, check out the Bear Aware website at www.bearaware.bc.ca. To report a bear sighting or incident, call the RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277.

BCCF’s Bear Aware gratefully acknowledges funding by Columbia Basin Trust, the MOE and the communities of Invermere and Radium.