CANMORE – Building on the success of a pilot program last year, wildlife ambassadors will once again be going door-to-door to educate Canmore residents on the critical importance of taking action against luring bears into town for an easy snack.
It is against the law in Canmore to let fruit or berries accumulate on trees, bushes or the ground, but the legislation was complemented last year with a dedicated door-to-door education campaign to encourage the eventual removal of the roughly 2,500 fruit trees town-wide on both private and public property.
The Town of Canmore has contracted the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley again this year to oversee the Keep Wildlife Alive ambassadors, who will go door-to-door for personal conversations with residents from the end of May until the fall on keeping yards free of all sorts of wildlife attractants.
Caitlin Van Gaal, supervisor of environment and sustainability for the Town, said starting the program earlier in the season will allow the ambassadors to have more conversations and reach households before trees produce fruit and become a wildlife attractant.
“We thought this Keep Wildlife Alive ambassador program was a great success and really creative way to reach residents who may not be tuned in to the Town’s traditional communication channels,” she said during Canmore’s May 21 committee of the whole meeting.
“We also felt that the personalized touch and the face-to-face conversations allowed the message to resonate in a potentially different way for residents.”
During last year’s campaign, the ambassadors spoke with residents at 174 households, with 142 of those conversations centred on fruit-bearing trees.
Residents were told of possible options, including the Town tree removal incentive program, which now covers 100 per cent of the cost of removal to a cap of $500 per property, and has $60,000 in the pot for this year.
Last year was the first year the program was fully subscribed since its inception in 2019. In 2023, 94 fruit-bearing vegetation species were removed from 30 properties in Canmore.
Anna Christensen, a campaign ambassador, said about 40 people during the campaign were unaware that fruit trees on their property were indeed a food source for bears.
“Thirteen residents pledged to remove their trees using the incentive program and 27 pledged to consistently remove fruit from their trees,” she said.
The ambassadors delved in a little deeper to determine why some residents are so reluctant to chop down fruit trees.
Christensen said 25 expressed sentimental connection to their tree, 16 had financial burdens preventing them from removing the tree and 14 did not want to chop the tree down for aesthetic reasons.
“Some residents did display reluctance to removing their trees and the ambassadors understand that trees mean a lot to people,” she said.
“It is important to note that out of the 174 conversations had, only 55 individuals were reluctant to remove their attractants, showing that the majority of residents engaged with were supportive of the program and working towards positive human-wildlife coexistence.”
Christensen said a total of 329 households were visited, which also included visits from Canmore’s Municipal Enforcement, which is a strong start to the campaign in its pilot year.
“The overwhelming response was people of Canmore care deeply for the wildlife that we share this town with,” she said.
Van Gaal said the municipality has also begun work to remove fruit-bearing trees on Town-owned land. Council has earmarked $150,000 over five years, with $30,000 dedicated this year.
“We’ll begin this work in south Canmore and residents should expect to see some work starting in the community in the month of June,” she said.
In 2022, six black bears and one grizzly were relocated out of the community, according to the province, primarily for getting into fruit trees. Three black bears returned to Canmore and were later put down after getting into a downtown dumpster. Last year, Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers euthanized five black bears in Canmore, according to the province, but did not relocate any bears.
