B E A R S M A R T D U R A N G Ohelping people and bears coexist benef i ts both

2010 SUMMARY REPORT

BEAR IN FALLS CREEK THAT WAS EVENTUALLY DESTROYED FOR NUISANCE BEHAVIOR

About this Report

Included in this report are summaries of black bear (Ursus americanus) sighting and incident data, summaries of community wildlife ordinance enforcement, area black bear mortality and GIS mapping of bear sighting and incident locations, including bears in trash.

Bear Smart Durango has compiled bear sighting and incident data annually, starting in 2007. This data consists of reports received by the Area 15 Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) office, Bear Smart Durango, The Durango Herald Bear Tracker, City of Durango Code Enforcement and La Plata County Sheriff Department.

Sightings include bear seen, bear in tree, etc and incidents include bear in garage, bear in trash, bear in bird feeder, bear in home, etc.

Bear sighting and incident data is limited to the boundaries of La Plata County.

FEMALE AND NEXT-GENERATION GARBAGE CUBS IN A YARD

NEAR THE OLD LIBRARY

Description of Area

Due to how data is collected by various sources, defining what is meant by “our area” is challenging. Bear sighting and incident data covers La Plata County only, while bear management data is from Area 15 of the SW Region of the CDOW. Area 15 includes the communities of Durango, Cortez and Pagosa Springs and is comprised of Bear Data Analysis Units (DAU’s) B-18 and B-6, (see maps below for reference), which divide the county.

AREA 15 OF CDOW SW REGION

CDOW BEAR DAU’S B-6 AND B-18

Table of Contents

1. About this Report

2. Description of Area

3. Bear Sighting and Incident Reports

2010 Reports By Month

2007-2009 Average Reports By Month

2007-2010 Total Reports

4. Wildlife Ordinance Enforcement

City of Durango and La Plata County

Other Colorado Communities

5. Area 15 Black Bear Mortality

Hunter Harvest and Non-hunter Mortality

6. Acknowledgements

RESIDENT THAT WAS CHARGED BY TWO BEARS IN TOWN

CDOW CAPTURE TRAP SET UP OFF FLORIDA ROAD

VEHICLE TOTALED BY A BEAR IN RAFTER J

REMAINS OF A CHICKEN KILLED BY A BEAR ON E. 4TH AVE

BEAR-STREWN TRASH OFF MAIN AVENUE

Area Black Bear Mortality

Data is collected for all bear mortality in Colorado, including hunter harvest and non-hunter mortality. Note: 2010 hunter harvest and non-hunter mortality data will be available in spring 2011.

Hunter harvest consists of black bears taken legally during hunting seasons. Black bears in our area are harvested in all manners of take, including archery, black powder and rifle.

Non-hunter mortality is any bear mortality outside of hunting and includes vehicle deaths, destruction of nuisance bears by CDOW and USDA Wildlife Services, bears shot by landowner, electrocution and other.

BEAR AT A BIRD FEEDER IN EDGEMONT. THIS YOUNG BEAR WAS

LATER DESTROYED FOR NUISANCE BEHAVIOR

BEAR DESTROYED AFTER BITING A RESIDENT NEAR THE

HOMELESS SHELTER IN JULY

703 LB BEAR TAKEN BY HUNTER IN COLORADO IN 2010

CUB KILLED BY VEHICLE ON HWY !60 NEAR NATURES OASIS

EUTHANIZED BEAR IN A CAPTURE TRAP

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 AVG

HUNTER HARVEST 131 166 156 108 67 79 96 119 150 127 120

NON-HUNTER MORTALITY 10 62 87 8 20 8 5 46 11 8 26

TOTAL MORTALITY 141 228 243 116 87 87 101 165 161 135 146

Note: all counts are based on reports received by the Terrestrial Section, CDOW, Denver.

Area 15 Hunter Harvest 2000-2009

0

30

60

90

120

150

180

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Area 15 Non-Hunter Bear Mortality 2000-2009

0

30

60

90

120

150

180

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Bear Sighting and Incident Reports

2010 Reports By Month

0

60

120

180

240

300

360

420

480

APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Average Reports By Month 2007-2009

0

60

120

180

240

300

360

420

480

APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

2010 Reports By Month

APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

8 69 145 448 310 111 58 9 4

2007/2008/2009 Average Reports By Month

APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

8 23 73 171 163 156 63 20 2

2007/2008/2009/2010 Total Bear Sighting & Incident Reports

2007 2008 2009 2010

1274 228* 616 1162

Note: 2008 data is low, in part, due to a reduced level of a.m. trash patrolling and reporting.

Total Bear Sighting & Incident Reports 2007-2010

0

250

500

750

1,000

1,250

1,500

2007 2008 2009 2010

Enforcement of Wildlife Ordinances

In 2010, there were 898 reports (see chart below) of bears getting into trash. City Code Enforcement reported 189 of 817 incidents of bears in trash within the city and the Sheriff’s Department reported receiving two of 81 reports of bears in trash in the county. Note: Unlike outlying areas, bear-strewn trash is monitored closely within city limits. City Code Enforcement issued 100 notices of violation of the wildlife ordinance in 2010. The number of notice of violation recipients that obtained a wildlife-resistant trash container or otherwise secured their trash container is unknown.

CITY COUNTY TOTAL

TOTAL REPORTS OF BEARS IN TRASH 817 81 898

REPORTS BY ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES 189* 2 191

Note: The 189 reports by city code enforcement includes first-hand accounts only.

City of Durango La Plata County

0

85

170

255

340

425

510

595

680

765

850

TOTAL REPORTS REPORTS BY ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

Other Colorado communities:

A number of communities in Colorado that have wildlife ordinances were contacted in late 2010 and asked to provide information on the severity of the bear season and reports to, and actions taken by, agencies responsible for enforcing community wildlife ordinances, whether that be animal services or police, sheriff or marshal departments. The responses from those communities are charted below.

Note: In some cases, these are general counts and not 100% accurate.

MANCOS OURAY TELLURIDE VAIL ASPEN SNOWMASS CITY COUNTY

BEAR REPORTS < 5 30 < 50 45 50 40 189 6

WARNINGS ISSUED 0 9 n/a 86 40 111 n/a n/a

CITATIONS ISSUED 0 1 n/a 0 5 11 100 n/a

Notes: Bear reports are bear-related calls, including bears in trash. • The La Plata County Sheriff’s Department received six bear-related reports

in 2010, of which two were trash-related. • The Aspen Police Department received 360 bear-related reports in 2010, but noted that all but around 50 were educational in nature. (Aspen PD reported 713 bear calls in 2009). • The Marshal Department for Telluride does not keep statistics on warnings or citations issued, and received < 50 reports. • The Marshal Department for Mancos received < 5 reports.

Reports Warnings Issued Citations Issued

0

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

Mancos Ouray Telluride Vail Aspen Snowmass Durango County

Acknowledgements

The following made valuable contributions towards the collection of bear sighting and incident data and this summary report: Colorado Division of Wildlife, The Durango Herald, Ecosphere Environmental Services, Heather Johnson/CDOW Mammal Research, Living with Wildlife Advisory Board of La Plata County, City of Durango and La Plata County Government. Special thanks to: Town of Mancos, Town of Telluride, Town of Vail, City of Aspen, City of Ouray and Town of Snowmass Village.

’

“Here's a photo of a plum tree damaged by a bear last night at the Smiley Building. Most likely it was the same bear that growled and came running at me on Sunday night, as it also knocked off some branches then, too. I have never been so scared in my life. Fortunately my primal instincts took over and the bear decided that I was pretty scary too!” - Karen Pittman, August 2010

BEAR SMART DURANGOP.O. Box 2291

Durango, CO 81302www.bearsmartdurango.org

970-749-4262bp@frontier.net

---------------

Bear Smart Durango is a 501(c)(3)

non-profit organization dedicated to

reducing human-bear conflict.

Founded in 2003, Bear Smart

Durango educates residents on

coexisting with black bears, advocates

for meaningful policies that address

the feeding of bears and works to make

bear-proofing of trash more available

in our area.