If a football game had a score of 17-1 in the fourth quarter, you might call it a blowout. The fact that condominium sales in the Columbia Valley are 17 times higher this September than they were last year indicates there’s been a big improvement in at least one aspect of valley real estate.

Where sales graphs have taken a nose dive in the fall over the last three years, this autumn appears to be quite different. Perhaps the Columbia Valley is truly approaching the long-awaited real estate floor.

If this is the case, it’s very good news for the valley’s economy. We all know it’s a wonderful place to live, and potential commercial developers probably sense this too. It’s just hard to bite the bullet on building new stores or bringing in new businesses when there’s an obvious glut of unsold condominiums and  luxury lots on sparsely-developed mountainside estates.

One can argue whether another real estate boom would be good for the Columbia Valley in the long term, but there’s little doubt that reducing the oversupply is good for our communities. It’s encouraging to hear that some of the sales are a result of families moving into the valley on a full-time basis.

But humans aren’t the only kind of families making a home in Invermere. Wildlife continues to favour the populated areas of the valley, with the ever-abundant deer and black bears continuing to make the their presence known on a daily basis.

Close calls of the Bambi-versus-human variety appear to be on the rise lately.  Fairmont Hot Springs is finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after a grizzly bear making unwelcome appearances in the community has been trapped and relocated.

Then there’s this information, overheard on the police scanner on Monday morning as the school day was beginning: a black bear sow and two cubs was seen in the area between J. Alfred Laird Elementary and David Thompson Secondary, and there was an unconfirmed report of a cougar in the area.

It’s a good reminder to be welcoming to new residents, but only those of the human kind.