Bear resistant garbage cans considered for county health code

Requiring bear resistant garbage cans across parts of the county was discussed at the Missoula County Commissioners meeting Sept. 14. The Commissioners expressed their intent to adopt resolutions to the City-County Health Code requiring bear resistant garbage cans in Missoula and Potomac's Bear Buffer Zone.

"There was a time in the past when saying thou shalt have a bear resistant garbage can was unthinkable," County Commissioner Josh Slotnik said. "It's only because of time spent working in the community by Jamie Jonkel, Chris Servheen, Shannon Terriault and others that this concept has not only become palatable but something people are excited about."

The final decision will be made Sept. 28 and, if passed, the resolution will go into effect 30 days later.

"We really want to limit bears' access to garbage with this change to municipal code," said Shannon Terriault, City-County Health Board. "Bears used to seeking food around homes become a safety risk for people and pets and cause property damage."

Bears that get into garbage are frequently trapped and removed and then another bear takes their place as long as the attractants are still there, according to Jamie Jonkel, Fish Wildlife and Parks bear specialist.

"Last year with the berry failure there were over 2,000 conflicts with bears and we had to destroy 13 bears," Jonkel said. "This year the berry crop has been great. But in the last two weeks the berries are waning and bears are coming into creek and river bottoms. We've had to destroy two bears that came into homes looking for food."

Terriault said public comments submitted online have been overwhelmingly positive for making the changes.

"There were concerns that the required garbage cans would cause taxes to go up," Terriault said. "The negotiation is only between homeowners and their garbage company so taxes are not affected."

Of the seven public comments at the meeting, five were Potomac residents in favor of the change to require bear resistant cans. Suggestions were made to provide garbage enclosures to get away from the long rows of garbage cans that "are an eyesore."

"It's really important to do this. We all live in bear habitat and have responsibility to help the bears live successfully," said Chris Servheen, North American Bears Expert Team and Montana Wildlife Federation. "This bear resistant garbage can program will go a long way toward making us live successfully with the bears in Missoula, Potomac and hopefully the rest of Missoula County."