Perhaps two decades ago, Hillside Assembly member Janice Shamberg floated an ordinance intended to do something about unpleasant bear-human interactions. As I remember the festivities, a requirement for bear-proof trash containers was part of the proposal along with large caliber fines for miscreants.
She was in her second term on the Assembly at the time. The proposal went nowhere. And she did not serve a third term, possibly due to her attempt to control the people.
Well, the ghost of Janice Shamberg is alive and well today, as once again another Assembly member from the Hillside, John Weddleton, is floating an ordinance intended to control bear interaction with trash. Once again, the proposed legislation is aimed squarely at the homeowner rather than the wildlife.
The Anchorage Bowl has a lot of large caliber wildlife, generally moose and bears. They pretty well have the run of the Bowl. Things are so bad with the moose that DOT&PF erected fences along both Minnesota and New Seward intended to control moose – vehicle collisions.
Keep that solution in mind. The State of Alaska controls the moose in an attempt to solve a public safety problem caused by moose playing in traffic.
What about bears? It has been over two decades since there has been a hunt for bears in the mountains above Anchorage. As a result, there are a LOT of bears, with the old boars pushing the sows and cubs downhill into town, where they look for things to eat. What do they eat? Depending on the time of years, meals range from moose calves to trash.
So, the Anchorage Assembly proposes to control the availability of bear food by requiring bear proof trash containers and fines for the newly created fines of bear baiting in front of your home. Still no action by either the Muni nor the State on the ability to kill a bear in your yard that you deem a threat to your safety or that of your family or neighbors.
In this case, Weddleton proposes to control Anchorage residents rather than educate bears that interaction with anything human is a decision to die. Bears are pretty smart. They do figure things out quickly when encouraged to do so. And with the ordinance, the Assembly will turn bear – human interactions in Anchorage into yet another law enforcement for profit operation. No word yet who pays the fine and cleanup when a bear takes down a moose calf in your back yard next spring.
Recent maulings have happened when unlucky hikers encounter a bear unexpectedly. There were a few along upper Campbell Creek in Bicentennial Park several years ago. Reaction here in Anchorage has been to close the trails for a bit or engage in handwringing about too many spawning salmon in the local streams. There were hunts for bears following the last couple deaths in Eagle River and Bird Ridge.
A decade or so ago, a few sows took up residence in upper Bird Creek, disrupting the stocked coho fishery for weeks. There were more than eight bears operating for part of the summer. As long as they harassed silver fishermen, ADF&G was not terribly worried. Once they started visiting campers, things got more serious. Eventually locals had enough and reportedly started shooting the animals and dumping the carcasses in the creek. Magically, the problem went away for a while.
Governor Walker in April 2015 gave into the greens by relocating a black bear sow and four cubs across Turnagain Arm after she had been teaching the cubs to raid trash containers in Government Hill. The group did not stay relocated for long and started visiting a campground near Hope after which, they were quickly dispatched. The whole bear relocation debacle cost around $10,000.
If you want to solve the problem of bears in Anchorage, you are going to have to start removing bears from Anchorage. While I wouldn’t go quite as far as imposing a daily limit on taking bears in the Bowl similar to the salmon limit of 3 a day, 3 in possession, there is enough truth in that for a good start.
Controlling humans won’t control bears. Either bears or humans are the apex predator in Anchorage. Sadly, there are no small number of our neighbors and elected representatives who are confused about which one is or should be at the top, and that is how we get legislation like this introduced.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
