<\/p>\n
When people are careless with garbage, grills and bird feeders, the bears who are attracted pay the price. After years of trying to train adults to change their behavior,<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge that we start with kids,\u201d said Barb Wynn, a seventh-grade science teacher at Miller Middle School. \u201cThis fits really well with the life sciences and ecosystems we study in seventh grade. They need to understand the world around them.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the human world is dangerous for bears. In 2015, in a 10-mile radius of Durango, five bears were euthanized after they were considered a danger because they were too habituated to people and people food, said Joe Lewandowski, spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Another 13 bears were struck and killed by vehicles.<\/p>\n
Karen Hickerson is Bear Smart\u2019s new education director, and one of the first things she noticed in Wynn\u2019s class was that everyone had a bear experience to share. There were so many that she asked students to hold comments and only ask questions or she wouldn\u2019t make it through her presentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would say that\u2019s because there\u2019s more bears,\u201d she told the class, making a point about how La Plata County\u2019s population has doubled in almost 50 years. \u201cBut here\u2019s a map of the subdivisions around Durango in 1970, and here\u2019s a map of the subdivisions today. So is it more bears or more people?\u201d<\/p>\n
Understanding what to do when encountering a bear is one of Hickerson\u2019s key lessons.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, bears will bluff charge, and people will say, \u2018Oh, he tried to attack us,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cOur first instinct is to run, and their first instinct is to chase us. So get big, talk quietly, and make sure the bear has a way out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hickerson has spoken to school groups ranging in age from preschoolers to seventh grade, like Wynn\u2019s class. She has age-appropriate programs \u2013 the one for preschoolers and early grades isn\u2019t as scary and is more simple, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best comment I got was when I asked students to come up with one word to describe bears,\u201d Hickerson said. \u201cThey came up with words like scary, aggressive and cuddly, then one kid said, \u2018Pans. That\u2019s what my mom bangs together when they come in the yard.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Hickerson, who has worked as a naturalist, facilitator and volunteer with Durango Nature Studies, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Museum and the San Juan Mountains Association, puts scientific facts about bears into terms kids can understand:<\/p>\n
In the fall before they hibernate, bears eat 20 hours a day to garner 20,000 calories during a phase called hyperphagia. That\u2019s the equivalent of eating every sandwich on McDonald\u2019s menu.<\/em>When people leave garbage out, feed pets outside or hang bird feeders, for bears it\u2019s like going to the friend\u2019s house whose mom buys all the \u201cgood stuff\u201d for snacks.<\/em>Bird feeders are like gateway drugs for bears because they\u2019re \u201csweet calories.\u201d Seven pounds of bird seed has 12,000 calories, which is \u201ca good day\u2019s food.\u201d<\/em>Bears\u2019 sense of smell is 100 times greater than humans\u2019. \u201cThey\u2019re willing to work hard to get into smelly food. They can smell you grilling from two miles away.\u201d<\/em>Clean out the car. Minivans are the No. 1 most broken-into vehicle in Yellowstone National Park. \u201cWhy? Because people with minivans have kids who have spilled food in the backseat.\u201d<\/em>Some people say allowing bears to be hunted would solve the problem. \u201cThat tends to leave a lot of cubs without their mamas.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In the fall before they hibernate, bears eat 20 hours a day to garner 20,000 calories during a phase called hyperphagia. That\u2019s the equivalent of eating every sandwich on McDonald\u2019s menu.<\/em>When people leave garbage out, feed pets outside or hang bird feeders, for bears it\u2019s like going to the friend\u2019s house whose mom buys all the \u201cgood stuff\u201d for snacks.<\/em>Bird feeders are like gateway drugs for bears because they\u2019re \u201csweet calories.\u201d Seven pounds of bird seed has 12,000 calories, which is \u201ca good day\u2019s food.\u201d<\/em>Bears\u2019 sense of smell is 100 times greater than humans\u2019. \u201cThey\u2019re willing to work hard to get into smelly food. They can smell you grilling from two miles away.\u201d<\/em>Clean out the car. Minivans are the No. 1 most broken-into vehicle in Yellowstone National Park. \u201cWhy? Because people with minivans have kids who have spilled food in the backseat.\u201d<\/em>Some people say allowing bears to be hunted would solve the problem. \u201cThat tends to leave a lot of cubs without their mamas.\u201d<\/em>While Hickerson\u2019s main goal is for students to understand more about bears, she has an action goal in mind, too.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hope is they\u2019ll go home and say, \u2018Mom and Dad, let\u2019s not feed the birds,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n And if parents are looking for the ideal neighborhood example to follow, Hickerson recommends the Falls Creek subdivision north of Turtle Lake.<\/p>\n \u201cThey live in prime habitat for bears, with water and food, and they have horses and everything,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they use one big, locked community dumpster, don\u2019t allow bird feeders and keep all food attractants locked up. And while they see bears, they don\u2019t have problems with them.\u201d<\/p>\n In the end, Hickerson hopes students will remember one key thing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bottom line,\u201d Hickerson said, \u201cis that we don\u2019t want bears to hurt us, and we don\u2019t want to hurt them.\u201d<\/p>\n