The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The community deserves a shout out
The head law enforcement officials for both Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte agree that the community in general deserves a pat on the back when it comes to the annual bruin issue. The fact that there have been few bear incidents this summer speaks to the community awareness of doing the right things to avoid attracting bears into the municipalities.
“No one wants to see a bear put down,” said Mt. Crested Butte police chief Nate Stepanek. “I think that’s a bigger motivator than tickets or fines. People are really trying to do the right thing for the bears. The businesses have been conscientious and homeowners are being careful.”
Crested Butte chief marshal Tom Martin agrees. “I’d say the public is doing a pretty good job this summer,” he said. “We haven’t had to write a ticket for a wildlife infraction yet this summer.”
Both say bears made a few appearances in their towns in early June. “We had some coming through town early in the summer,” said Martin, “but so far this year we’ve had a lot fewer incidents. The food source appears to be pretty good in the backcountry this year. They are now probably starting to get hungry for the fall and we have maybe two bears, a small and a medium-sized animal, making an appearance on the west-side fringe of town the last couple of weeks. We are trying to discourage them from coming any further into town.”
Up in Mt. Crested Butte, Stepanek said when the local bruins awoke from hibernation, they were attracted to one particular area of the town. “But the neighborhood people policed themselves,” he explained. “They stopped putting their trash out early, which was the problem. And then the bears stopped coming around.”
Stepanek said he too expects to see some increased bear activity as the season starts to lean toward autumn. That’s when the bears start looking to pack on the calories for their long winter hibernation. “But right now the restaurants and hotels are doing the right things. It goes to the community and we all appreciate it. So do the bears,” he commented.
Martin said his force has appreciated the lack of bear activity. Unlike the last few summers, there have been no reports of bears breaking into vehicles or houses this year and there hasn’t been a treed bear attracting hundreds of picture-snapping tourists. “It’s never a bad idea to remind people to make sure their bear-proof trash cans are locked and not put out on the street until trash day,” he said. “The businesses are doing a good job keeping the Dumpsters locked. Let’s hope talking about it doesn’t jinx the good summer we’ve had so far with the bears.”
