Fish and Game meets with borough leaders

Bear attractants remain an issue in Haines, according to a CVN review of more than 140 police reports, and are associated with property damage that’s continuing at nearly the same rate as last summer.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists came to town this week in response to a Haines Borough letter sent in June critical of the agency for not providing the borough support over increased bear activity.

“Haines Police Department reached out to the Alaska State Troopers, and Alaska Department of Fish and (Game) and received no assistance,” states the letter, signed by interim manager Alekka Fullerton and Mayor Doug Olerud.

“We were informed that we hadn’t done enough to mitigate the attractants…Will we be able to get assistance from Alaska State Troopers this year? Will we be able to get assistance for Alaska Department of Fish and Game?”

Between May and July of this year, 16 people reported property damage compared to 19 during the same period last summer, according to police reports. Of the 16 reports of property damage so far, four callers admitted to having bear attractants including an open garage with cat food, trash and fishing gear in vehicles and flour stored in containers outside.

Police have ticketed one resident so far this year for leaving garbage in a truck, according to court records. Another resident was given a citation that was later waived. Based on recent code changes, police can now waive citations if offenders correct an issue within a week. Police chief Heath Scott said he thinks ​​warnings help change behavior in the long term.

“People are correcting those issues,” Scott said. “We’re going to continue to use that in the future.”

Last year, bears broke into vehicles, garages, sheds, storage facilities and even several homes as bear attractants, low salmon runs, poor berry production and a more secure landfill caused increased human-bear interactions. According to last year’s police reports, more than 20 callers reported attractants associated with the property damage including chicken coops without electric fences, outdoor freezers, trash and or food in vehicles, garbage cans stored outside and a “garbage trailer” outside a home that a bear overturned. Six residents were cited in 2020.

Scott shot and wounded a bear last summer that was getting into a trash can stored outside his home. Scott said the bear was rattling his garage door. He said he refrained from storing his garbage in his garage because of how many bears were breaking into garages around town.

Scott and other borough officials last year sparred with Fish and Game biologists over the agency’s concern that too many attractants were being left out and that police enforcement was lacking. Borough officials, including Scott, continue to be concerned about solid waste issues such as infrequent landfill operating hours.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers investigated Scott for creating a bear attractant last summer after the shooting. The case is still being reviewed by the state’s office of special prosecution, according to Alaska Wildlife Trooper detachment captain Aaron Frenzel.

Frenzel said Haines has long had problems with attractants.

“We always seemed to have dealt with a lot of bear calls (in Haines) due to attractants being left out,” Frenzel said. “It’s going to take a coordinated effort to secure garbage, have bear-proof garbage cans, if people are going to have their garbage outside and changing a town that’s had a lot of attractants in their yard for a long time.”

Calls to police overall and calls associated with property damage are slightly down as of this, according to Haines Borough police data. As of Monday, police have received 98 bear-related calls compared to 118 last year at this time. Police are asking residents to only report bear activity that is a threat to life or property as opposed to reporting bear sightings.

“We share this area with the bears and they will often be seen in town,” police posted on their Facebook page. “It is not necessary to report every sighting.”

Residents and police shot and killed 30 bears last year outside of the hunting season. Koch said there’s been one bear shot and killed so far this year in defense of life and property compared to five last year at this time. Two other residents have reported shooting bears without confirming a kill.

Since last year’s mayhem, the borough assembly voted to tighten up what’s considered a bear attractant. Food and garbage is not considered an attractant if it’s stored either in a certified bear-proof container or in a structure, or enclosed by an electric fence.

Community Waste Solutions also purchased bear proof dumpsters.

The borough’s letter didn’t specify what assistance local leaders wanted. Fish and Game assistant director for the Division of Wildlife Conservation Ryan Scott traveled to town Wednesday to figure that out.

“I need to understand what is defined as assistance,” Scott told the CVN on Monday before his trip to town. “We did send staff to Haines multiple times last summer. Management staff have been prepared to mobilize to Haines if needed. Lots of questions come up. I need to understand what is the desire of individuals in the community, what role do they want Fish and Game to play in this.”

Heath Scott said Wednesday he thought the meeting went well and that the borough and Fish and Game officials will continue to have education campaigns and look at ways of better addressing solid waste issues.

Ryan Scott said that while there’s no solid plans on how to move forward, he thinks borough officials and Fish and Game are “on the same page.”

“We recognize we all have a role in whatever happens,” he said. “A lot will be driven by the bear activity. One of the things we talked about a lot today is how to reach out to talk to people about attractants and what we can provide to deal with it.”

He also said he hopes better fish runs and increased berry production this summer will decrease human-bear encounters.