New Campground Regulations in Place to Reduce Bear Attractants

In an effort to minimize bear attractants, the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest has imposed new storage regulations. The regulations took effect Monday.

All too many of us are flippant about waste or food remnants; that's a luxury that the Forest can ill afford. In recent years, according to a press release, there has been a surge in the "occurrence of bear sightings and bear-human interactions at established recreation sites."

The storage regulations are intended to "reduce human-wildlife conflicts, and the issues that accompany habituating wildlife to human food sources and other attractants."

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Anything scented or smellable is a bear attractant. Specific examples include:

• Food and drink
• Uncleaned utensils or cookware
• Candles
• Toiletries - soap, deodorant, toothpaste
• Wildlife carcasses
• Pet food

Attractants must be "safely stored" in one of the following:

• Secure building
• Hard-sided vehicle
• Certified, bear-resistant container
• If hanged - and hanging is permitted under the new regulations - attractants must be 10 feet above ground or four feet away from tree trunks

The Forest is doing what it can to assist with recreators' storage needs, according to spokeswoman Debbie Kelly.

"We are installing food storage lockers," Kelly says. "Those areas where we've had reports of interactions with bears - those are the locations where [lockers] are getting placed first. Over time, we'll get more lockers in place."

As the old adage goes, prevention is better than cure. Kelly says reactive measures don't tend to work very well.

"Once bears get habituated, they're very challenging to deal with. We'd prefer to not attract them to campgrounds - and not get them habituated to being where people are camping."