Berries and bears go paw in hand, but maybe not this year. With the slow, cold start to summer we are seeing a somewhat limited berry crop.
Black bears are adaptable and they have a fairly wide range of food choices but because they are inefficient digesters, they must consume large quantities of food.
With breeding season over, the bears are now re-focusing their attention to finding food. Their spring diet of grasses, forbs, horsetail, and catkins is behind them - they are now well into their summer diet of protein-rich Carpenter ants, fatty larvae, wasps and grubs.
Energy-rich foods such as thimbleberries, huckleberries and raspberries top their list as well as domestic backyard fruit like cherries and plums.
Depending on where you go, some berry patches are offering moderate amounts of food but some are already drying up.
A fairly good snow pack at higher elevations may impact the fall berry crop. Squamish should expect to see an increase in bear activity during the late summer to fall if there is a berry shortage.
Bears will stay lower in the valley and forgo higher elevations because they will want to stay where the food is.
It is critical that residents continue to lock their totes with both locks to ensure bears don't gain access to non-natural food.
In addition, all dumpsters need to be secured as they offer up huge amounts of calories if accessed -we don't want to give the bears a reason to stop and stay.
The fall is crunch time for the bears; this is the last opportunity to consume calories in preparation for hibernation.
Bears will increase their home range boundaries in pursuit of food and they will increase the amount of hours spent foraging. The average bear will spend upwards of 20 hours a day feeding and will need to consume about 20,000 calories a day (that's like us eating 50 hamburgers a day) with the goal of gaining at least three to five pounds a day.
In 2009, the province had a phenomenal berry crop and this was a major factor in why bear sightings were down across the province.
Communities throughout B.C. are presently experiencing increased bear activity; this is partially due to the weather and its affects on the berry crop and because many communities don't have bear proofing and bears are stopping and staying.
Although we have bear sightings in every neighbourhood, Squamish is no longer at the top of the list for bear encounters/sightings. The residential locks, when used correctly, are making a difference.
Bear Aware and the District of Squamish would like to offer a big kudos to everybody who is doing their part to keep our bears wild.
For more information on how you can be Bear Aware or about our fruit tree picking program please contact [email protected] or 604-815-5066.
