When a black bear mother and two cubs came into her yard to eat from the fruit trees, an elderly woman in rural Montana called the local wildlife agency manager. The manager was overloaded with other bear calls, so he called Kim Johnston, the conflict prevention specialist for People and Carnivores (P+C), to see if she could help. Johnston took fencing kits to the property and surrounded the fruit trees with temporary electric fences. The bears returned later that evening, but once they realized they could not access the trees, they wandered off.
Both black and grizzly bears are omnivores who will eat animal meat and insects opportunistically, but most of their natural diet consists of grasses, roots, nuts, fruits, and berries. When fruit trees and berry patches bring bears close to homes and people, however, it can mean trouble, especially for the bears.
In the fall, bears needing to put on weight before hibernation will go wherever the food is. Often, human communities provide an easy abundance—of natural foods such as fruits and berries and a host of unnatural foods, as well. Unnatural attractants may include anything from livestock, beehives, and vegetable gardens to backyard grills, bird feeders, pet food, and discarded scraps of human food found in garbage bins and dump sites. Once bears discover an easy meal, they keep coming back for more. Those conditioned to seek food from human communities and habituated to human presence present a risk to people. Once this happens, they are most often killed—which is why “a fed bear is a dead bear.”
To keep bears and other large carnivores safe and in the wild, AWI has teamed up with People and Carnivores on a variety of projects. This Montana-based nonprofit works to prevent human-carnivore conflicts so that bears, wolves, and big cats can move about safely in the human footprint, connect with others of their populations, and expand their range. AWI’s partnership with P+C began in 2021, with AWI providing funding to bear-proof a garbage dump in a rural town experiencing a series of black bear conflicts. In 2022, AWI began cost-sharing a new P+C conflict specialist field position in northwestern Montana, where grizzly bears are moving out from the Glacier National Park area to expand their range, but encountering a matrix of small farms and ranches, burgeoning housing developments, and increasing numbers of recreators. In 2023, with AWI’s support, P+C distributed additional garbage canisters to homes near the newly secured dump site.
Ryan Wilbur, P+C’s northwestern Montana field specialist, has been establishing a carnivore coexistence program in an area between three federal grizzly bear recovery areas, and where wolves and mountain lions also roam. In 2024-25, in addition to cost-sharing the field specialist position, AWI is supporting three P+C coexistence projects: bear safety and coexistence educational materials, development of a “Bear Smart Initiative” in Columbia Falls, Montana, and bear coexistence equipment in the state’s Anaconda-Georgetown Lake-Philipsburg corridor, which is experiencing black bear conflicts and an increasing number of dispersed grizzlies. Thus far within the corridor, 12 public park trash and recycling receptacles frequented by bears have been replaced with bolted metal bear-proof garbage cans.
A Bear Smart Initiative is a community-level effort to prevent human-bear conflicts. The goal is to keep people and property safe, and bears moving along. Although there are several Bear Smart Communities in Canada, the movement is still in its infancy in the United States. About six years ago, P+C’s Johnston brought the Bear Smart Community idea to the mayor of Virginia City, Montana. At the end of 2022, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC)—a collaboration involving federal and state agencies, tribes, and others—endorsed a Bear Smart Community framework modeled after the successful Canadian program and developed by Johnston and IGBC working group members. This year, Virginia City was recognized by P+C and by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks for being the state’s first Bear Smart Community.
Any effort by a single landowner or business to keep bears from being drawn to their property is a good one, and P+C’s core work is partnering with landowners, tribes, agencies, homeowners, and recreators to implement tools to keep large carnivores separated from attractants such as livestock, crops, or garbage. Community initiatives go one step further. Engaging groups, local officials, neighborhoods, and community leaders to consider a Bear Smart Initiative is a way to expand the benefits of conflict prevention and reduce the fragmentation of single projects. Bear Smart Initiatives can also give residents and businesses a way to strengthen community, hold fun events, and welcome visitors with confidence.
A “community” can be an unincorporated residential area, city or town, housing development, resort, or other definable and connected area. Bear Smart Initiatives look different from place to place because each locale is different. To have a lasting impact, the program needs to address the types of bear conflicts unique to the community and evolve in a way that works for all stakeholders. Yet, even with a community’s distinct challenges, there are some common needs in places where people and bears share the landscape: education about bears and how to reduce attractants, best practices to prevent conflicts, and proper waste management. The latter is a key goal, because access to garbage is the single most common source of bear conflicts. (In northwestern Montana, chicken coops come in as number two.)
The AWI/P+C partnership has helped to advance the nascent community initiatives in Columbia Falls and Philipsburg, as well as ones in Alberton, Montana, and Island Park, Idaho. Wilbur has been an active member of the Alberton project, where the town council approved a Bear Smart Initiative, starting with the installation of a fence around a community garden and orchard. The Alberton working group was also provided funding for other demonstration projects designed to teach residents about bear conflict prevention.
To aid such initiatives, P+C has developed a portfolio of bear safety and coexistence information sheets and toolkits, including a vacation rental kit, homeowner’s kit, and restaurant kit. To help local groups be effective in their outreach, P+C customizes and brands the kits with localized information before printing. One example is a collaboration with the Henry’s Fork Wildlife Alliance (HFWA), which is spearheading the Bear Smart Initiative for Island Park, where numerous grizzlies and black bears have been killed after run-ins with people and property. Through their volunteer program, HFWA has distributed more than 2,500 kits and flyers provided by P+C. Wilbur has also worked with the Columbia Falls City Council and trash hauler, along with wildlife managers, to help achieve passage of a city ordinance requiring residents to keep trash from being accessible to bears. Meanwhile, P+C equipped a Columbia Falls public park with steel trash canisters and has led local events teaching people about bear safety.
Bears are not the only species safeguarded by the AWI/P+C collaboration. Wilbur has implemented several different field tools—working with agencies and landowners to build conflict prevention fences (pictured at above), install scare devices (light and sound), and help ranchers and farmers establish practices that will prevent livestock losses, which also saves carnivores. Each year, primarily during the field season from spring to fall, P+C installs fladry and other fencing to keep wolves, cougars, and bears away from livestock and crops across western Montana. Fladry involves adorning a fence—usually electrified—with flags that move in the breeze, serving as a deterrent for wolves for up to six weeks around livestock pastures.
Wilbur loans out “coexistence toolkits” for landowners who need help right away (for example, if a bear or cougar suddenly shows up) until a more permanent or secure solution can be implemented. The kits include a fencing starter kit, scare devices, bear spray, noisemakers, and educational materials. Additionally, P+C has established bear-resistant cooler and food container loaner programs with public land agencies and has donated bear-resistant equipment to the University of Montana’s Outdoor Program and Wilderness Institute. Wilbur has also focused the last two years on developing Spanish-language materials and events for commercial orchard workers and fruit pickers, as northwestern Montana has a high density of orchards around Flathead Lake.
AWI and P+C are working together to create a culture of wildlife coexistence rather than control and killing. When landowners and communities are willing to participate in preventative rather than reactive practices, people, wildlife, and agency managers all benefit. Learn more about the work of People and Carnivores and projects supported by AWI.