Trash pilot project a1so expected to be among final recommendations

By JENNIFER MILLER, Whistler Question, Sept 7, 2006

Whistler’s Black Bear Working Group is recommending that Council appoint a solid waste coordinator and look at a pilot project for bear-proof garbage containers to deal with the challenging issue of waste management, co-chair Sandra Smith told Council on Tuesday (Sept. 5).

The group also suggests that mountain ash trees and Saskatoon berry bushes be removed, and that fruit is picked from crabapple trees, within the Village core. These attractants should be removed from any location where it’s not appropriate to have a bear feeding, such as in front of municipal hall or at the entranceway of a store, said co-chair Sylvia Dolson.

Unless individuals are concerned about the potential for bears to feed off backyard berry bushes, residents are not expected to remove these types of attractants, she said.

There have been more than 900 calls to report bear activity so far this year, a sharp increase over last year, Dolson said. Bears have been breaking into homes and so tar this year seven bears have been killed, mostly because of this behaviour. Some of the factors leading to the increase in conflicts are late-ripening berries, more bear habitat being developed, and reports of tourists feeding bears, Dolson said.

Mayor Ken Melamed said Council would respond to the group’s recommendations after the group presents a full report later this fall.