'Bear Aware' gets a boost from a new source of funding in an effort to reduce bear-human conflicts

As bears prepare to hibernate, communities across the state are hoping to do more to prevent conflicts. Many can, thanks to a new source of funding.

"I've never seen anything like this. We've never had money dedicated towards just community-based solutions to human-bear conflict like this," said Kristin Cannon, Deputy Regional Manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Cannon is talking about the Human-Bear Conflict Reduction Community Grant Program. A total of $1 million was recently distributed across 11 Colorado communities that are just beginning to put the funds to use.

"We had a variety of projects, a lot of bear-resistant garbage cans and dumpsters but also community-based education and outreach programs," said Cannon.

Bears need around 10,000 calories per day during hyperphagia, the marathon food binge required for proper hibernation. For communities in the high country, being bear aware is more important than ever this year, as food supplies are lower than normal.

"This year in particular up in the mountains, it's a bad food year and the bears naturally start venturing toward where there's food. They're driven by their nose and their stomach," said Brenda Lee, President and Founder of the Colorado Bear Coalition.

Lee, also part of the Boulder Bear Coalition, formed the Colorado Bear Coalition just this year.

"There were so many people calling me from across the state to learn how Boulder has been so successful in reducing conflict, it really became clear that we needed to branch out and have more of a statewide organization to support cities across the state," Lee continued, "this year, I have been getting phone calls from places I've never heard from really reaching to get support and understand what they can do as a community to reduce the numbers coming through town."

Lee says the coalition will be headed to Aspen in two weeks, where a sow and her four cubs were recently euthanized. A decision that did not sit well with many community members.

In these situations, Lee believes there needs to be more understanding about how to prevent situations like this as opposed to reacting to them.

"If we're only doing it through crisis management, then we're never getting at the root of the problem. While CPW comes in to deal with the crisis, what did we, as a community, not do before that to avoid the crisis?"

Lee not only advocated for the grant money, but she also sat on the advisory panel. She says trash is the main reason that bears come to town and trash-resistant bear cans and dumpsters are the first on the list of things for many communities looking to make a change. The grant also covers things like resources to enforce the use of new trash cans and educational programs.

CPW says while it's a one-time grant opportunity, there is an interest in making more funding available for programs like this down the road.