Parks Canada says bear sightings up as buffalo berries ripen
Make noises, keep dogs on leashes, Banff park specialist advises
Parks Canada says it's heard a lot of reports of bear sightings this summer, and it's all due to a small red berry.
A hot dry spring has led to a strong crop of buffalo berries, which is driving bears to seek them out in valley bottoms, said Blair Fyten, a human wildlife coexistence specialist with Banff National Park.
"The crop is ripened up a couple weeks earlier than typically it normally would, and through monitoring of some of the plants that we look at on a yearly basis, what we're noticing is that we have a better than average crop of buffalo berry this year," he said.
WATCH | These red berries are driving bears to valley bottoms:
Fyten said the park has received lots of reports of bear sightings this summer — most of them black bears.
"We haven't had much for issues between interaction between people and bears. The bears are just pretty happy with the crop of berries, but we are having lots of sightings in the valley bottom," he said.
But that strong crop of berries isn't equal everywhere.
"Another thing that we've kind of seen is we've looked at a couple of plots in the backcountry and we're not getting the same results in some of our backcountry areas," Fyten said.
"The berries seem to be poor back there, but in the Bow Valley, here in the valley bottom, we just got lots of berries — and that's making our bears very happy right now."
He said that people in the area should be aware that if they're hiking down trails and they see buffalo berry bushes, there could be a bear nearby.
Marianne Barker, who lives in Calgary, says both times she's been out camping she's spotted a black bear. It happened once near Field, B.C., and the other time near town in Waterton Lakes National Park.
"I have seen them on every camping trip I've done, and funnily enough, it's right as I'm nearing where the campsite is," she said.
The camper said she's already cautious about bears, but the sightings did put her on higher alert.
"It definitely gives me kind of a funny feeling. I think I probably make a little bit more noise on the trail than I would if I haven't seen them," Barker said.
Fyten advises people to make noise, keep dogs on leashes, and don't leave attractants out — and if you do bump into a bear, let Parks Canada know where you saw it.