Teton County residents who live or work in bear habitat will need to take extra care with garbage and bird feeders starting in a week.

On July 1, a new set of standards designed to help prevent bear problems takes effect.

People in areas subject to the new rules will need to use Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee-approved bear-resistant trash containers, said Jenn Bodine, a senior planner for Teton County. People who take their own trash to the dump must use a bear-resistant enclosure, such as a garage, to store garbage.

“A lot of folks have the mistaken impression that they could have their trash in a noncertified container on trash day,” Bodine said. “But all trash has to be stored in a bear-resistant container at all times, even on trash day.”

Further, people with bird feeders will need to hang the feeders 10 feet off the ground and 4 feet out from the supporting structure. The feeders should be equipped with a catch pan that extends 4 inches past the widest diameter of the feeder itself. The regulations on bird feeders start April 1 and last until Nov. 30 each year.

The new standards apply only to people who live north of Highway 22 in the county’s “conflict priority area 1,” which includes Kelly, Buffalo Valley, Alta and land east of the Tetons from Teton Village to Wilson. For detailed maps, visit www.tetonwyo.org/plan/pdplan. Bear regulations for areas south of Highway 22 will go into effect July 1, 2010.

Enforcement to be respectful

Bodine said enforcement of the new bear standards will be “complaint based.”

“In many cases, with regard to bears, it’s when an interaction between bears and humans occur” and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department responds, she said. “[Game and Fish] has agreed to call, and then we can go out to the neighborhood and make sure everybody has a bear-resistant can.”

Bodine said the county will first attempt to work with a property owner to bring a trash can or bird feeder into compliance with the standards. If someone refuses to comply with the standards, they could be fined up to $750 for each offense. Each day of continued violation would be considered a separate offense.

“Clearly, we want people to comply [without the threat of fines],” Bodine said. “We’re trying to protect both humans and bears. It’s not one versus the other. Generally, people spoke in favor of [the new standards]. Overall, people understand the importance of a regulation like this.” 

Bodine said most residents who will be affected by the new standards will receive a bear-resistant trash container from Westbank Sanitation or Teton Trash Removal Inc. She said people who have questions about whether to purchase their own bear-resistant container should call the company they use first.

“They are supposed to be replacing the cans or giving property owners the chance to buy their own,” Bodine said.

Jeff Brewster, district manager for Westbank Sanitation, said his company has distributed about 60 percent of the bear resistant containers that he ordered for his clients. He said the containers for Alta, distributed through subsidiary Voorhees Sanitation, were back-ordered and will be distributed about a month late.

Brewster said he’s happy to help with the effort, even though it will cost time and money to implement and run the new program. Brewster said the company will end up spending about $300,000 on between 1,000 and 1,500 bear-resistant containers. That cost also includes 75 commercial containers that cost about $1,400 each.

The time spent at each stop will also increase, he said.

Trash collectors will have to get out of the truck and physically open each can before the automated arm can lift the can into the truck.

“Before it was all mechanical,” he said.

Danny Hansen, manager of the Ace Hardware on Broadway in Jackson, said the Wyoming Game and Fish Department asked him to stock the trash cans. A 95-gallon trash can is available for $250. Bodine said she has a list of other bear-resistant trash can suppliers.

100 percent compliance a must

Doug Sobey, co-president of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, said the Teton County program mimics other efforts that have been successful in places such as Vail, Colo., and Banff, Alberta. He said the standards will help ensure that the conflict area has 100 percent compliance.

“You need 100 percent participation,” he said. “If it’s 95 percent, the bear gets into the 5 percent who don’t have bear-resistant containers.”

“The issue here is safety,” Sobey said. “[Bears] get aggressive. Game and Fish has to go in and remove them and often kill them. It’s not the bear’s fault. Bears will investigate a bear-resistant container, and in a relatively short period of time they’ll give up and move on. The bear conflicts are dramatically reduced. That’s what people in Solitude [subdivision] have noticed.”

Sobey praised Westbank Sanitation for its efforts to work with the county, Game and Fish, and the Wildlife Foundation.

“If they hadn’t been cooperative, this would have been a lot more difficult,” he said.

Wyoming Game and Fish spokesman Mark Gocke said the standards will help people who might not be in tune with the wildlife issues associated with living in Jackson Hole.

“In a place like this where people might only live here for part of the year, they might not be familiar with the bear problems,” he said. “Education only goes so far. Having a regulation in place is going to be the most effective way to deal with the problem, at least in those key areas. We’re excited about taking this big step.”

Game and Fish bear management specialist Mike Boyce agreed.

“It’s very appropriate,” he said. “All of our conflict data supports the need for this ordinance. It will help reduce the number of conflicts that we experience.”