Prince George city council moved forward several bear mitigation strategies first proposed by the Advisory Committee on Bear Awareness last year at its Monday, April 7 meeting.
Last year, the committee presented eight recommendations for council to consider. In turn, council requested administration to investigate their feasibility.
City manager Walter Babicz delivered a report on those findings, saying that while the number of bear incidents and bears needing to be euthanized decreased in 2024 compared to 2023, there are concerns that another crisis point will be reached unless preventative measures are taken.
Coun. Tim Bennett said his major concern was that the eight recommendations have significant budget implications and this conversation came close after budget deliberations.
Babicz said two recommendations had no financial implication other than the use of staff’s time.
The first of those was No. 4 on the list, which would have administration continue to phase-in bear-resistant solid waste receptacles in public spaces like parks and bus stops.
The second of the lower-cost options was No. 6 on the list, which would see council approve a new bylaw aimed at regulating wildlife attractants like fruit and solid waste. It would include the implementation of progressive fines levied for those not following the new rules.
Babicz said some preliminary work had already been completed for preparing the new bylaw.
Coun. Trudy Klassen said she agreed with Bennett’s comment regarding the timing and wondered whether recommendation No, 7 could also be completed at low cost.
That recommendation would amend zoning bylaws to allow for electric fencing to secure wildlife attractants.
The city manager clarified that recommendation would direct administration to investigate how that could be implemented following the examples of other communities that have taken similar measures.
Coun. Kyle Sampson joked that recommendation No. 4 was “low-hanging fruit” and moved it as a motion.
Coun. Brian Skakun said managing garbage is a huge part of the bear issue. He thanked the people who worked on developing the recommendations and said he wasn’t in favour of pursuing the options with significant budget implications.
Coun. Ron Polillo said the more expensive recommendations should be considered during the next budget cycle.
He moved forward recommendation No. 6. It passed unanimously.
Polillo also moved recommendation 8B, which directs administration to continue including bear awareness information, on social media platforms and princegeorge.ca. However, he removed language that would have continued to add the information with garbage collection schedules.
Recommendation 8A would have had the city include educational information on human-bear interactions at the cost of $25,000 for a new inserter and $3,000 per billing cycle because of the need to purchase new envelopes.
Coun. Cori Ramsay said she understood the reluctance to approve expenses outside of the budgetary cycle but argued that the cost was small for the number of utility bills sent out.
She moved an amendment to include 8A as part of Polillo’s motion.
Mayor Simon Yu said he thought results might improve if there’s better co-ordination between the city and local biologists so that the city can put out warning if there are signs of early or extra bear activity.
Ramsay’s amendment passed unanimously.
Bennett moved for garbage collection schedules to be added back to recommendation 8B.
It passed, returning all of recommendation eight to how it was originally written.
Recommendation seven also passed unanimously.
Recommendations one and two — creating a permanent staff position focusing on bear awareness for at least five years and creating a bear aware technical committee with members drawn from various groups like Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George — were referred to the Standing Committee on Finance and Audit for consideration in next year’s budget.
Ramsay also moved recommendation No. 5, which directs administration to consider programs aimed at reducing bear attractants and combine support for them with bylaw enforcement but requested that low-cost options be explored.
Coun. Susan Scott moved for recommendation No. 3, which would see the creation of a two-year pilot project for the deployment of bear-resistant garbage bins, to be considered alongside recommendations one and two.
During a past pilot project, Ramsay said she’d heard stories of bears getting into the more secure bins and expressed concerns about spending money on the matter again.
Ultimately, that recommendation was passed.
At the end of the discussion, Yu said he didn't want to see any bears killed going forward. Coun. Trudy Klassen suggested carrying out a contest to see residents' best ideas for securing garbage bins.
