An improperly secured dumpster gives bears and other animals access to human-made attractants that can lead to an increase in human-wildlife conflicts.
A bear scavenged from garbage left unsecured scattering it into the woods.
The locations of collared grizzly bears in the Seeley Lake area from 1998 to 2021.
SEELEY LAKE - As bear and human interactions become more frequent in the warmer months, the annual cycle of bears becoming acclimated to human attractants will come into full effect. Continued conflicts with humans can eventually result in the removal of a bear. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Bear Specialist Jamie Jonkel said he has begun seeing a lot of trash inadequately disposed of in the area which will continue to perpetuate the situation.
"When I was driving around town, I mean there are just tons of garbage cans sitting out and a lot of garbage in the backs of trucks, bags of garbage alongside homesites," he said. "And I noticed that a lot of the bear resistant dumpsters that are in place are not even locked."
Jonkel said he noticed some bear resistant dumpsters only having one lock installed when there are supposed to be three. There is supposed to be one on each side of the dumpster and another in the middle but he said he was seeing quite a few dumpsters with just the middle lock.
"All the bear has to do is pry up from the side and reach in," he said. "It actually damages the lid then so it can't even function as a bear resistant dumpster."
According to Jonkel, the Seeley Lake area has had a couple of different black bear sightings in the last couple of weeks. One bear has been on the north side of town while the other is a female with two subadults that has mostly been seen on the south side near Double Arrow Ranch.
He estimates that last year they recorded at least three different grizzly bears and at least 25 different black bears.
Jonkel said the female and her cubs have been seen grazing on the grass in backyards which technically is not a problem. However, she has also shown signs of interest in hummingbird feeders. He discourages Double Arrow residents from installing hummingbird feeders in their yards.
"Most of the behavior you see of bears up on porches is due to bird feeders," he said. "In Montana when you're in bear country, you shouldn't even have bird feeders hanging. If you just insist upon having bird feeders hanging then what we're recommending is folks build a little electrified kiosk, something ... that is fully protected so that deer and elk and skunks and raccoons and bears can't get into it but the birds can fly into it."
FWP Sergeant Dan Curtin said that FWP will initially issue a warning if they come across improperly stored waste. However, they will begin issuing actual tickets if they begin seeing repeat offenders. While penalties are ultimately up to the court, fines can reach as high as $1,000 for providing attractants to wildlife (except birds), can spend up to six months in jail and someone can lose their hunting, fishing and trapping privileges since it is considered a misdemeanor.
"We always ... start out with education [for] people that are new to the area and then if we have to, we move into the enforcement stage," Curtin said.
Another issue Curtin wanted to address was with humans picking up the calves and fawns of cow elk and does. He said that people should avoid interacting with them because the mothers are behaving more aggressively to protect their young. Those walking their dogs should avoid calving areas or areas that are close to ponds for the next month.
According to Jonkel, FWP is in the process of assisting The Ice Cream Place and The Filling Station with making bear resistant structures to go around their dumpsters. These projects will respectively take roughly up to three and six weeks to complete. The structures were funded by a $15,000 grant from the Missoula Resource Advisory Committee. These businesses were chosen because they were found to experience bear conflicts frequently.
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