Gardening in bear country can be a tricky thing, but local wildlife experts have the answers for green thumbs looking to also be WildSmart
Glenn Naylor with Alberta Parks, Jay Honeyman with Fish and Wildlife and WildSmart’s Kim Titchener will all be on hand for a free talk next Tuesday (May 6) on managing wildlife attractants in your garden.
Naylor said a lot of effort has been taken to address natural bear attractants like buffalo berries within Canmore and this talk will focus on plants in people’s gardens.
“We’ve traditionally had issue with bears coming into town, especially in fall when there are berries and apples ripening, crab apples as well,” Naylor said. “Bears are drawn to that stuff to eat it, so what we are trying to do is educate people so they know what they should plant or could plant that won’t attract bears to town.
“If we have bears in our back gardens in town they are going to be in conflict some way, some how, and it is not a situation we want to happen.”
He said there will always be bears travelling through the community, but the goal is to prevent them from stopping and eating. He would like people who have existing apple trees to consider changing them and putting something else in their place.
The free talk is being held at 7 p.m. at the Mountain Lady’s Greenhouse at 60 Lincoln Park. Call 403-493-5308 for more information.
