Supplying bear-resistant garbage totes to all the households in the Cowichan Valley Regional District’s nine rural electoral areas is favoured by the majority of their district directors.
At its meeting on Oct. 2 the CVRD’s electoral area services committee voted to recommend to the board that bear-resistant garbage totes be provided to households that do not already have a garbage tote from the district, and that households with existing curbside garbage totes have them replaced with bear-resistant totes over time.
But, if the board votes in favour of the EASC’s recommendation, utility fees for the implementation of the CVRD’s three-stream curbside collection (garbage, recycling and organic material) will be higher for residents in the electoral areas when it is fully implemented in 2025.
Staff estimate that the utility fees in 2025 would be approximately $330 per household if all residents were given bear-resistant garbage totes, compared to $308 if they were given regular garbage totes.
But even with the higher costs of the bear-resistant totes, utility fees will still fall within the fee range that the public was consulted on in 2023 in which they were told to expect a utility fee with the new three-stream system of no more than $345 per household.
As well, the preservation of bear lives was raised as a concern for many residents during the public consultation period on the new waste-collection system.
A staff report by Travis Tanner, a senior environmental technologist with the CVRD, states that key waste attractants for bears include food waste, human hygiene products and pet waste, and the possibility of human-bear conflicts exists whenever hungry bears seek out these attractants, and increases when bears have access to a non-natural food source, such as curbside waste.
Over time, bears can become habituated to seek out waste attractants as a food source, and these bears are often euthanized, as relocated bears often quickly return to their previous territory.
Tanner said that reducing bears' access to attractants is the most effective way to prevent “conflict kills”.
“Local governments are best suited to help prevent conflict kills as they can require residential bear attractants to be stored in a secure manner,” he said. “As some residents may not be able to store their wastes securely, like in a garage for example, bear-resistant curbside collection totes can help prevent bears from having easy access to waste.”
Tanner said that incidents when bears have to be euthanized for getting habituated to human garbage occur most frequently in semi-urbanized areas near bear habitats and green spaces used as travel corridors by wildlife.
He said in the CVRD, these areas are primarily in Honeymoon Bay, Mesachie Lake, North Cowichan, Shawnigan Lake, the Town of Ladysmith, the Town of Lake Cowichan and Youbou.
Ben Maartman, director for North Oyster/Diamond, said he’s not in favour of increasing costs for taxpayers, and thinks that residents should take some of the responsibility of keeping bears away from their garbage.
“What we’re doing is saying to everybody that we know best and we’re going to provide all of this to all of you,” he said. “For me, this is part of a larger context of how much should we be spending because I hear from my community about how we should keep doing things reasonable for them and for their overall taxes to the CVRD.”
Ian Morrison, director for Cowichan Lake South/Skutz Falls, said he’s surprised that some on the committee are considering not doing all they can to prevent human/bear conflicts as bears are having to be euthanized on a fairly regular basis.
“I couldn’t in good conscience support anything that wasn’t the fullest means we can to protect bears,” he said. “We’re the problem, not the bears and if we can make a reasonable approach with what I think is the recommended resolution, we’re doing the best thing that we can for, not just us, but for the bears as well.”
Shawnigan Lake director Sierra Acton added that she feels it would be completely irresponsible for the CVRD to provide a service that’s not going to be adequate as all the district’s communities have bears.
“We have to provide the right equipment,” she said. “We live in a very rural place and we definitely need bear-proof totes.”
The motion to recommend to the board to provide all households with bear-resistant garbage totes passed, with Maartman, Cobble Hill director Mike Wilson and Jesse McClinton, director for Saltair/Gulf Islands, opposed.
