FWP AT WORK Shawn T. Stewart, Wildlife Biologist

URBAN BEAR MANAGEMENT

SHAWN T. STEWART FWP Wildlife Biologist, Red Lodge

“FOR ABOUT 20 YEARS UP UNTIL RECENTLY, Red Lodge was a black bear magnet. In late summer when the mountain vegetation dried up, bears would follow the two creeks right into town looking for food. And they found it. There’d be 10 to 15 bears in town every night. In the morning every alley in Red Lodge would be strewn with garbage from tipped-over bins. For a long time we had no way to solve the problem. Then the local warden and I started working with a citizens’ group to experiment with some of the new bearresistant garbage bins on the market. By 2008 the group was able to convince the city to approve the extra expense of requiring its waste removal company to use bear-resistant bins for all residential addresses. Today there are more than 1,100 residential bearresistant bins in the Red Lodge city limits. And last year we were able to convince most businesses to bear-proof their garbage containers. Now only an occasional bear or two roams through town on late summer nights, and it moves on quickly because there’s nothing here to eat. Thanks to all the good work by the people of Red Lodge, bears aren’t pests here anymore.”