Modelling the effectiveness of bear--proof garbage bins deployed at the community scale

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Conflicts arising from interactions between humans and wild bears are a significant concern to management and residents alike. Humans tend to settle in valley bottoms, for many of the same reasons that these areas are also prime bear habitat. This spatial overlap naturally creates a situation where interactions between humans and bears are common. While bears and humans can coexist without incident, problems do occur and the frequency of such problems increases as humans continue to establish settlements in bear habitat. Bears near human communities are attracted into the communities by human food, as it tends to be of high calorie content and relatively easy to harvest (e.g. salmon in a backyard cooler is much easier to ``catch'' than salmon swimming in a stream). The resulting close proximity of bears and humans however, poses safety risks to humans, and a hungry bear can cause considerable property damage in its quest for easy calories. A bear that has become aggressive and accustomed to people is exterminated, but even this drastic solution is temporary, as the attractants remain and another bear will follow on the heels of the exterminated one. Research indicates that the frequency of human-bear conflicts could be significantly reduced by preventing bears from accessing human garbage. Bear-proof garbage bins are common in wilderness parks, but have not been widely adopted at the residential level. While such bins exist, it is not yet clear how bears would respond to bins adopted at the community scale, or what cost benefits would accrue to the community. In this project, we will use a modelling approach to determine the effectiveness of bear-proof garbage bins deployed at the community scale, using Whistler as our sample community. The model, which will include bear movement in response to natural food and human garbage, will be developed in collaboration with our industry partner, Maddocks Engineering. We aim to create a modelling tool that can be used to accurately estimate the costs and benefits of adopting bear-proof garbage bins at various levels, ranging from very minimal adoption to the conscientious use of the bins by everyone in the community.