Bear Smart Missoula

On Aug .17, 2023, the Missoula City-County Health Board approved the proposed changes to the solid waste regulations in the Missoula City-County Health Code. The proposed changes include a requirement to use bear-resistant containers in an expanded bear buffer zone, in addition to some clean up changes to the rest of the regulation. They then recommended that both the Missoula County commissioners and city council adopt the proposed changes by reference.

The commissioners opened this hearing at their public meeting on Sept. 14, and they will make a final decision at their public meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28. Residents are welcome to attend in the Sophie Moiese room of the Missoula County Courthouse annex, or virtually via Microsoft Teams. Find the agenda and link to join.

Stay tuned on the City of Missoula's meeting page to see the city's decisions on this item and join their meetings. The Public Safety, Health and Operations Committee met on Sept. 13, and the first hearing at city council will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2, in the City Council Chambers as well as via Microsoft Teams, and the final decision will be made at the city council meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16, also in the City Council Chambers and via Microsoft Teams.

Find the bear buffer zone recommendation and proposed changes to the solid waste regulations in the "Documents" section on the right-hand side, and let us know your thoughts here!

As of April 5, there are increasing reports of signs of black bear activity across the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 (which includes Missoula). There have also been reports of grizzly bears in the Seeley Lake area.

Don't attract bears to your property. The food bears find on your property may keep them from denning. Bear attractants include garbage, birdseed, chickens, livestock, feed and pet food, tree fruit, gardens and compost, BBQs, coolers, unsecured outdoor freezers or other easily obtainable food.

Below are some ways you can make your property Bear Smart:

• Use electric fencing for attractants like chicken coops, gardens, compost piles, livestock and other attractants that are commonplace or come with the landscape. Learn more about deterring bears with electric fencing.
• Use the recommended bear-resistant products for your trash, livestock feed, coolers and other food storage.
• Make sure to thoroughly clean your BBQ after each use.
• If you do not have a bear-resistant cooler, container for livestock feed, or other food storage, store them indoors where bears cannot access them.
• Do not put birdfeeders out from March to Dec. 1, or longer if bears are still active. This year, as of Jan. 11, some bears are still active.
• Don’t leave trash, groceries or animal feed in your vehicle. Bears can pry open car and truck doors or break windows to get at food.
• If you have a fruit tree on your property, pick fruit as it becomes ripe and remove any fruit off the ground. Store the picked fruit in a secure building, garage or shed. Electric fencing may be effective at keeping bears from this attractant. Contact Missoula Valley Fruit Exchange, Garden City Harvest or Great Bear Foundation Bears and Apples program if you’re unable or need assistance picking your fruit.
• If you garden, do not use blood meal, and use an electric fence to keep bears out.
• If you compost, avoid putting meat, fish, melon rinds or other pungent scraps in the pile, or just don’t compost kitchen scraps. Keep the pile aerated and properly turned, and, again, do not use blood meal.

All too often, bears find anthropogenic foods while in their quest for natural food resources. Bears that become used to being around people may be called “habituated”. Bears that receive “food rewards” like garbage or birdseed can become “food-conditioned” and exhibit behaviors like walking on porches and causing property damage that leads to their removal. By securing attractants on your property, you can keep bears wild, improving the safety of both bears and people. Learn more about being bear smart on MissoulaBears.org

You can also learn more about being bear smart on Missoula County’s Tip of the Spear podcast The Bears are Calling: How the County and City are Becoming Bear Smart

Black bears are abundant in the Missoula Five Valleys area and are encountered frequently within urban settings along Missoula’s wildlands interface. Residents living within the Missoula Bear Buffer Zone should expect black bear activity and become aware that grizzlies are becoming more common. While recreating in the Missoula Bear Buffer Zone and Missoula’s outlying areas, carrying bear spray is recommended. If you encounter a bear while hiking or if a bear visits your home, stay calm, do not approach the bear, and report the incident to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Missoula Bears Facebook page or file a report at Missoula Bears.org.

If you encounter a bear, the bear’s behavior, rather than its species, should determine how you respond. In any bear encounter, your behavior matters.

If a bear is not actively engaged with you (looking away, ignoring you, running away or retreating):

• Give the bear space by backing away slowly from the bear and going in the opposite direction of the bear.

If a bear shows agitated/defensive behavior (huffing, jaws clacking, head swaying back and forth, bellowing, swatting the ground, and excessively salivating at the mouth):

• Stand your ground, prepare your bear spray, and speak in a calm manner, until the bear retreats.

If a bear charges or appears ready to charge:

• Stand your ground.
• If it charges, use your bear spray, when the bear comes within 30-60 feet.
• If the bear is going to touch you, go face down on the ground, cover your neck and head as much as possible, and deploy your bear spray in the bear’s face. If you do not have bear spray, play dead if it is a grizzly bear, fight back if it is a black bear.

If a bear follows you, or slowly, purposefully or methodically approaches you:

• Stand your ground.
• Get aggressive: wave your arms and shout vigorously.
• Get spray out and ready.
• Fight back if it makes contact.

If a bear enters or reaches into your tent:

• Use your bear spray.
• Fight back.