Bruins ‘bearly’ problematic this summer…yet

“The tourists might be disappointed but we’re pleased…”

The local bruins pretty much took the month of June off from their visits to town, but at least one bear came back to Crested Butte with the July Fourth holiday crowds.

According to chief marshal Tom Martin, bear incidents in town were non-existent from June 3 until July 3.
It could be the “bear-resistant” trashcans mandated by Crested Butte. It could be the weather. It could be fear of Roger, the 12-pound Chiweenie mix that last August chased down a 400-pound bruin in Crested Butte. More likely though, it is a good backcountry food supply that has, at least temporarily, lightened the bear problem in town.
“Overall, it’s great,” said Marshal Martin. “We hadn’t had a report on anything bear-related since June 3. We hadn’t heard of or seen a bear in town since, but this past weekend we received a few bear-related reports. Last summer we dealt with it on a daily basis and they got into approximately 300 cars in town—some of [the cars] were damaged significantly by bears last summer.”
Crested Butte assistant chief marshal Ted Conner said it’s been a very light summer as far as bears in town. “Good enforcement of the town’s regulations trying to keep wildlife, including bears, from getting into trash is working,” he said. “The last few summers have been bear-heavy but this summer we seem to be on the right path.”
In 2007, the Town Council passed an ordinance meant to help rid the community of hungry bears. Residents are required to use bear-resistant trashcans. Garbage cannot be put out on the street for collection until the day of trash pick-up. Dumpsters in the alleys behind businesses are supposed to be secured.
But on Saturday, July 3, a bear was spotted crawling out of a trailer in Red Lady Estates. The bear “broke a window to get in and didn’t appear to do much damage inside but was seen coming out the window. There were actually two people sleeping in the trailer but they didn’t even wake up,” Martin said. “Then on July 5 a local restaurant’s outdoor garbage shed had some damage. A bear-resistant trash can was torn up on July 6.”
Martin said the bear has been described as a mid-sized brown bear weighing about 300 pounds. “I think there is only one bear in town at the moment but if we see a continuing pattern, we’ll move toward capturing it and putting it down,” he said.
Martin said that last summer six bears were captured and euthanized in the north end of the valley. Four bears were trapped in town, one was hit on the highway just south of Crested Butte and another was captured in Mt. Crested Butte. “I think the fact that some of the bears that were born and raised in Crested Butte were put down last year has had an impact,” he said. “We had a bear come out in April and it stayed around a bit in town but that one hasn’t been seen since early June.
“I’m not sure the problem is totally over,” Martin continued. “But the last five or six years, bear calls were a daily occurrence. We’ve let the Department of Wildlife know about these latest incidents.”
Gunnison’s district wildlife manager for the DOW, Chris Parmeter, agrees with Martin that the bear situation might be better but it’s not been totally solved. “It’s a wonderful thing that the bear problem in Crested Butte has taken a bit of a break,” Parmeter said. “But we can’t let our guard down. We need to maintain vigilance and for people living in the area—that means taking care of the trash.”
Parmeter thinks the reason bears might not be in town is the weather cycle. Warm weather and some moisture have helped bolster the backcountry food supply for bears. “They have plenty of natural food and most bears will choose that over trash if it is available,” he said. “Even town bears, trash bears, would go into nature to feed if they could.”
Parmeter referenced a study conducted in Aspen that has been tracking bears in the Aspen area since 2005. The preliminary results show that if the natural food supply is good, bears rarely venture into town. One key is to make sure garbage is secured at all times, particularly when natural food crops fail or are poor. But even bears that seem addicted to easy garbage food prefer the berries of the backcountry.
“The study shows that when things are really good, even garbage bears will go natural,” Parmeter said. “The town of Crested Butte has certainly done its part with it regulations and it appears it is a good year for bears feeding in the wild. We haven’t really had to deal with any this summer.”
Martin agrees. “Everyone is paying attention and it is paying off,” he said. “Everything combined is working. We’ve probably written 30 tickets under the ordinance that addresses wildlife-resistant trashcans and Dumpsters. But everyone now seems to understand the importance of discouraging the bears. Getting rid of food sources for bears is part of the equation.”
And it’s an equation the marshals want to see successfully solved.