Bear season isn’t far away in the Tri-Cities and, with it, a focus on managing attractants such as garbage.
But there’s more to living with bears and other wildlife than keeping our food waste inside until it’s time for pickup.
Urbanization affects how wildlife moves through watersheds — and, FYI, we all live in a watershed. Development fragments and destroys wildlife habitat. Wildlife must then adjust to an ever-changing world, seeking new habitat to forage for food, hunt for prey and raise their young.
We can minimize stressful encounters and potential conflict with wildlife by being aware of the diversity of wildlife around us, by using common sense and by employing preventative techniques. Bear and coyote sightings, for example, often increase as a result of humans providing a food source.
While bears will find and feed on overflowing bird feeders, mismanaged compost and fallen fruit, these food sources also attract rats, squirrels and chipmunks, regular prey items for coyotes.
Recently, I sat down with local beaver advocates Jim and Judy Atkinson. I wanted to hear about their more than 25 years of experience living in Jasper National Park and how they had come to have such a deep appreciation and passion for so many of our native wildlife.
Living in a small town (Jasper currently has 4,600 inhabitants) within a vast national park (Jasper National Park, established in 1907, spans 13,000 sq. km), residents are conditioned to heed and respect the native wildlife.
First deer, then elk, came into town annually to give birth, where the urban environment afforded them temporary protection from predators. As they were understandably protective of their calves, Parks Canada eventually had to deter their return by fencing off large grassy areas on which the elk liked to graze (school grounds and fields), and to dissuade them from coming into town by waving hockey sticks with plastic streamers attached
Returning to the industrious beaver, I am further enlightened by the Atkinsons. Beavers have existed for the past 30 to 60 million years. Spanning some 300 years, beaver trapping occurred ahead of European settlers and decimated the mammals’ population to 1% of its original numbers.
Today’s society, therefore, has not co-evolved with beavers. The Haida First Nation, on the other hand, has long recognized the interconnection between beavers and salmon. Beaver dams create ponds that provide resting areas for migrating salmon and make ideal nurseries for juvenile fish by creating complex edge habitat, increasing insect food supply and contributing beneficial woody debris into the ecosystem.
What can we do? Here are some co-habiting/co-adapting strategies to get started:
• Enhance native habitat/minimize lawn areas: Keep lawn areas to a minimum and replace with a diversity of native trees and shrubs that provide natural food and cover. Where lawn is required, eliminating chemicals and reducing mowing are beneficial for birds and their insect prey. To dissuade bears from coming into town, partner with the appropriate jurisdiction and local non-profit to enhance outlying (higher) regions with food plants (berry-producing shrubs).
• Compost edibles carefully: “A garbage bear is a dead bear,” is the phrase and, certainly, wildlife suffers when human activities result in harmful practices. For instance, Patrick and Lisa Beecroft, who own Caffe Divano, stopped selling the popular freshly squeezed orange juice when they noticed a black bear would visit the business’ outdoor compost area every Friday seeking the tasty orange rinds. Heed all guidelines from your city when it comes to curbside collection of compost, recyclables and garbage. Wash and rinse both your recyclables and plastic meat wrappings to minimize odour and facilitate better recycling.
• Avoid poison: Pests such as rats have co-existed with humans for centuries and cannot be eradicated. They can be prey to native wildlife such as coyotes and ravens. Poison is not species-specific and affects the entire food chain. Remove bird feeders (and other food sources) at night, when rats are most active (healthlinkbc.ca is a great resource for this issue).
• Take care with pets and pet waste: Keep your beloved canine on leash while using trails and dispose of pet waste responsibly. Ideally, pack it out and carefully empty contents down toilet; soiled bag in garbage. Alternately, check out store.bokashicycle.com for its pet waste composter.
• Never release/introduce exotic pet or plant species into nature: Non-native species can out-compete native species for food and habitat. Invasive plants such as English ivy, Himalayan blackberry, English laurel and policeman’s helmet (Impatiens glandulifera), to name a few, overtake native wildlife habitat, can threaten food crops and, in the case of Japanese knotweed, even jeopardize concrete infrastructure. Visit the Invasive Species Council of BC (bcinvasives.ca) for up-to-date information.
• Promote and use bird-friendly glass or retrofit with bird-friendly window film: In Canada, an estimated 16 million to 42 million birds collide with glass on buildings every year. The cities of Vancouver and Toronto have published guidelines on bird-friendly design for both buildings and landscapes.
• Reduce noise and light after dusk: Our wildlife neighbours need their rest. Noise is stressful to both them and us. Promote and use Dark Sky-compatible lighting (darksky.org). Unlike other forms of pollution, light pollution can be addressed easily with immediate, positive results.
• Get bear smart: The Get Bear Smart Society aims to minimize the number of bears killed as a result of human-caused problems. Awareness comes first but changing our behaviour is key. Coyote Watch Canada, the Stanley Park Ecological Society and our own Burke Mountain Naturalists are all great resources from whom we can learn how to co-habit and co-adapt to our struggling wildlife. And since bears need salmon…
• Save wild salmon: Wild Pacific salmon are threatened by Atlantic salmon fish farm viruses and sea lice. Visit Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance (wsda.ca) for ways to support this critical cause. Remember all storm drains lead to aquatic habitat so help keep them free and clear of foreign debris. And since salmon need beavers…
• Help beavers: Facilitate the return of beavers to our local watersheds by supporting thefurbearers.com and encourage your city and developers to install rain gardens along city streets.
• Advocate for federally listed (endangered or threatened) species: B.C.’s southern resident killer whale population is also on the brink. Down to its lowest population levels since the 1970s, if our federal Species At Risk Act had teeth like its U.S. counterpart, the orcas plight alone would prohibit Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline expansion. Business-as-usual with the fossil fuel industry likely will be the demise of our iconic species, which is already endangered by dwindling Chinook salmon stocks, ocean pollution (PCBs, plastics, etc.) and, now, increasing marine traffic. Visit georgiastrait.org to send a letter to your elected officials today.
Melissa Chaun of Port Moody is an ecologist with a passion for all things sustainable. She is events co-ordinator with the Rivershed Society of BC, volunteers on various city committees and co-ordinates the monthly meetings for Tri-City Greendrinks. Her column runs monthly.
