Pitkin County Commissioners unanimously authorize human-bear conflict grant agreement with Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Grant to go toward wildlife resistant trash cans in workforce, lower income housing
Pitkin Landfill Staff/Courtesy Photo
Pitkin County Commissioners unanimously authorized during a Wednesday meeting a human-bear conflict grant agreement with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
“This is primarily to go towards getting a large number of top of the line bear-proof trash cans for a number of our high-density housing areas, especially adjacent to the landfill,” said Emily Casebeer, Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office Community Response Officer.
The $104,500 grant will go toward placing wildlife resistant trash storage in more Pitkin County communities with a focus on workforce and lower income housing in Aspen Village, Lazy Glen, and Phillips Hillside, as well as areas next to the Pitkin County Solid Waste Center.
Pitkin County will purchase 190 bear-resistant trash cans, a wildlife proof dumpster enclosure, and educational material. The county received a vendor quote of $68,731.80, including tax and shipping, to buy the 190 cans.
These trash cans are currently used in Lazy Glen, a rural workforce housing neighborhood known for high bear activity near Old Snowmass. The subdivision experienced a surge of bear and trash-related incidents in 2022.
Because of the high bear activity, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) funded 76 bear-resistant cans (BRCs). While bear activity, property damage, and trash-related incidents have since declined, there are still units that lack BRCs, the Pitkin Bear Aware Waste Management Project Application states.
The Bear Aware Project will purchase an additional 25 BRCs for Lazy Glen to fill the gap of missing BRCs from original 76 bear-resistant cans.
The project will purchase 100 BRCs for Aspen Village, which has some of the highest bear activity due to its proximity to the landfill. This area will receive the most BRCs as a result of this year’s project.
The project will purchase 15 BRCs for the landfill. The current metal bear-resistant containers, which were purchased in 2015, are starting to fail. This poses a significant risk of attracting bears, leading to potential human-bear conflicts and environmental disturbances. The BRCs will also help protect landfill staff members who regularly work in close proximity to the bears, the application states.
The project will also purchase 50 BRCs to be given on an at-need basis to other residents in the surrounding community on a case-by-case basis, accounting for factors like income, bear-activity level, geographic location, and other socioeconomic factors that show why the resident may struggle to obtain their own BRC without county support.
The project will use $35,000 in CPW funds for a wildlife-proof dumpster enclosure (WPDE) for Phillips Hillside, the mobile home community located downstream from the landfill. A WPDE is a fully-enclosed structure consisting of four sides and a roof to prevent access by bears and wildlife, the application states.
And finally, the county will also purchase educational stickers to go on the BRCs that inform residents how to minimize bear conflict by correctly securing food and what to do if a bear is spotted.
In 2023, Pitkin County received $30,000 from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Human-Bear Conflict Grant program. The county matched the grant with $20,000, making the grand total $50,000 to buy wildlife resistant trash cans for the Lazy Glen community and a new selection of shotguns for the sheriff’s office to assist in hazing bears.
In 2024, the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office submitted an application to Colorado Parks and Wildlife for a human-bear conflict grant. The application was approved for the full amount requested of $104,500 in August 2024.
Once the county receives the trash cans in October 2024, the sheriff’s department will work with Homeowners Association (HOA) groups and landfill staff to pick up and distribute the BRCs among residents.
A second reading and public hearing for the grant agreement is set for Oct. 23.
The county hopes to distribute all the BRCs within two months of the award period. The HOA groups will also have the chance to distribute educational material to teach residents how to use the BRCs during this time. The county will store the “At-Need BRCs” for the time being but plan on distributing them by the end of the grant period.
By the end of 2024, the county will receive the materials needed to construct the trash enclosure at Phillip Hillside. Finishing the enclosure before spring will ensure residents become familiar with using the new trash waste system before bear activity peaks in the spring, the application states.
According to the application, “Pitkin County has a robust and active bear population that is continually growing and adapting.”
This is leading to an increase in human-bear conflict which can result in public safety and property damage concerns. Unsecured waste can serve as a primary attractant to lure bears into populated areas of the county, the application states.
According to a 2023 report from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Pitkin County has the highest recorded bear activity of any county in Colorado. That year, the county recorded 429 bear sightings, and 105 recorded property damage to trash.
Additionally, the Pitkin County Solid Waste Center has among the highest bear activity in the county, the application states. Over the landfill’s 60-year existence, bears have reproduced multiple generations of offspring dependent on the human food that gets dropped at the landfill. Currently, around 25 to 30 bears live in the hills surrounding the landfill.
Regan Mertz can be reached at 970-429-9153 or rmertz@aspentimes.com.
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