Good news for bears at Crystal Lakes

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

In a win-win situation--for both Crystal Lakes and the area's resident bears--none of 12 bow hunters was successful during a special hunt on the subdivision's greenbelts. No one got hurt, and no bear had to be chased or retrieved on private land, said Jodean Sandquist, Crystal Lakes general manager.

The hunt took place from Sept. 5 to Nov. 30.

The overall goal within the subdivision, Sandquist said, is to discourage bears from using it as a convenient fast-food feeding ground, as they have in the past. The number of break-ins held steady at 13 from summer through fall, she said, quite a difference from the past five years when total incidents numbered more than 100 each year.

Sandquist credits the resident volunteers on the Bear Aware Team in Crystal Lakes with this success. The team was created in 2005 on an initiative from the Colorado Division of Wildlife and is headed by Jim Tiffin.

She said the team's educational outreach and close monitoring of all bear break-ins seems to be having an effect. Sandquist noted many landowners have cleaned up their lots, removed trash, erected portable electric fences around their homes and trailers and set out "unwelcome mats" around the outside perimeter of their homes or trailers near doors and windows. These unwelcome mats are boards or heavy conveyer belt material studded with screws - just enough to discourage bears but not enough to hurt or disable them, Sandquist said.

Sandquist said the goal is for the bears to use the natural habitat within the subdivision for sustainability, but remain afraid and not become habituated to human food and activities.

"Next year, if the number of break-ins stays low, we'll know we've made a permanent change," she said.