Trail closed by bear may be reopened
Officials suspect aggressive bruin has moved on

Louise Dickson
Times Colonist

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Conservation officers will decide today whether it's safe to open a 10-kilometre section of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail closed because of a marauding bear.

The south end of the trail, west of China Beach, was closed last week when conservation officers began to worry that the bear would go after hikers for the food in their packs.

The bear became a problem about a month ago around Bear Beach. Although this bear hasn't attacked anybody, hikers have felt frightened and uncomfortable. The animal has torn open packs close to where people were sitting and didn't leave when they tried to scare it off.

On Wednesday, Don McLaren, an area supervisor with B.C. Parks, said the bear hasn't been captured. Because it has lost its fear of humans, it will be put down if it is caught.

A mixture of sardine and molasses had been left out for several days as bait to lure the bear into a snare, The bait disappeared for the first few days, then nothing was taken, said McLaren.

"We're assuming [the bear] left the area, but we're going to wait one more day. We're getting bear sightings, which is fairly typical, but nothing at Bear Beach when we've been down there.

"We're always cheering for the bear. We don't want to see anything happen to the bear or the public. But the safety of the public is our utmost concern when these kinds of things happen," he said.

Because conservation officers want to make sure they capture the right bear, they've put a bag of food near the snare. If the food disappears, they can assume the bear that has taken it is the one that's been tearing into packs.

McLaren is hoping the bear may get back to its normal feeding habits.

"People have to maintain their food supplies in a better manner," he stressed.

A bear cache, made of aluminum and cable, has been installed at a nearby beach to reduce problems of bad storage of food. Bears can't climb the cache, which puts the food well out of the bear's reaching distance.

In Washington state's Olympic National Park, all visitors are required to secure all food, including dehydrated and canned, garbage and other scented items from wildlife 24 hours a day. Hard-sided containers such as bear canisters are required on the coast and in areas where it's not possible to hang food four metres high and three metres out from a tree trunk.

"It would certainly help," said McLaren. "Containers are ideal for locations where you don't have opportunities to put bear caches, like high alpine terrain or camping in the open, and you need something to put the smell of food down."

The Juan de Fuca trail attracts all levels of hikers. In the past year, there has been a "little bit of an increase" in the number of bear problems, said McLaren.

All entrances to the trail have log shelters with information on the trail, camping and wildlife.