Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Policy on Human Food and Solid Waste Management and Bears in Alaska

Introduction

Black bears (Ursus americanus) and brown/grizzly bears (U. arctos) are common or abundant throughout most of Alaska, where they often encounter human activity. Polar bears (U. maritimus) live in the sea ice environment of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas but are sometimes attracted to human developments along the Arctic coastline. Individuals of all three species quickly learn to seek out human-related food sources such as human, livestock, and pet food (including bird food) as well as human garbage. To a bear, these foods and garbage are nutritionally valuable, relatively predictable, easy to obtain, and may be concentrated in a small area. Bears that obtain food or garbage associated with human activities or dwellings usually learn to seek these out again, a process called “food-conditioning.” These food-conditioned bears may become dangerous because they are attracted to and may remain around areas of human habitation. Unless the food or garbage is removed for human safety and the food-conditioned bear is “trained” to subsequently avoid it, the bear will often have to be destroyed. In addition, garbage may contain noxious substances, such as toxic chemicals, plastic bags, and glass or metal fragments that impair the bear's health.

As state land disposals, resource development, community expansion, tourism, and outdoor recreation increase throughout Alaska, more conflicts between humans and bears will occur. Therefore, a consistent and enforceable departmental policy on food and solid waste management is necessary to minimize impacts on Alaska's bear resources as well as protect the safety of human residents. This policy addresses human settlements throughout Alaska. However, individual communities and industrial or commercial sites may have special problems that must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Objectives

The objectives of this policy are to:

1. Reduce confrontations between bears and humans, which risk human injury or death or result in killing “nuisance” bears, by reducing access by bears to garbage and food associated with humans;
2. Provide consistent guidance for departmental responses to proposed human developments where solid waste and other attractants may affect bears; and
3. Provide consistent guidance to other agencies on the solid waste management practices that should be required prior to authorization or re-authorization of activities under their jurisdictions.

Implementation

To achieve the above objectives, interagency cooperation among the Alaska Departments of Fish & Game (ADF&G), Public Safety (ADPS), Environmental Conservation (ADEC), Natural Resources (ADNR), Transportation & Public Facilities (ADOT/PF), and the United States Forest Service (USFS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), private industry, and private land owners (e.g., Native corporations) will be necessary to (a) develop plans to eliminate solid waste attractants; (b) issue, monitor, and enforce permits and regulations; and (c) provide public education. The prime methods to accomplish this effort will be:

1. Solid waste disposal permits issued by ADEC;
2. ADNR, USFS, NPS, USFWS, and BLM administration of special use permits for permitted facilities and general prohibitions concerning food and solid waste storage and disposal;
3. ADF&G, ADEC, and ADPS regulations for proper storage, transport, and disposal of food, garbage, fish and game waste products, and other associated solid waste;
4. Coordinated public education efforts by federal, state, and local agencies involved in natural resource management in Alaska;
5. Cooperation among agencies, interest groups, industry, and the general public involved in management and use of Alaska's natural resources; and
6. Effective private industry policies that prohibit employees and contractors from feeding bears or improperly disposing of garbage, and that punish employees who violate this policy with immediate dismissal and ineligibility for rehire.

Guidelines

Human, livestock, and pet foods and garbage are strong attractants to bears. The most effective solution for handling bear problems is to eliminate these attractants from the bear's environment before a problem develops.

The following guidelines should be followed throughout Alaska where bears may be attracted to human, livestock, and pet food and to garbage.

1. Management of human, livestock, and pet food and solid waste to reduce bear/human interactions is a public concern, and everyone in the community, camp, or work site is an integral part of the problem and the solution. To instill this critical concept, public officials have an obligation to educate the public about bear behavior, the potential for local conflicts, and the best available course of action to reduce these conflicts.
2. Solid waste disposal sites for communities, industrial sites, and permanent field camps should be located, if feasible, in habitats least used by bears. For example, disposal sites should avoid traditional movement routes, seasonal concentration areas (such as salmon spawning areas, productive berry patches), and areas of dense cover preferred by bears.
3. The preferred alternative for disposal of garbage that may attract bears is incineration at a facility that meets ADEC standards for combustible residue (i.e., less than 5 percent unburned combustibles). Existing open-pit sites that use surface burning for disposal should be phased out and replaced by a system of daily incineration meeting the above standards, or by daily landfill. Open-pit sites should be surrounded by a bear-proof fence or other bear-proof enclosure.

   In large urban communities or at regional disposal sites, daily landfill is an acceptable alternative to reduce or eliminate attraction by bears, provided that a bear-proof fence secures these facilities.

4. Large field camps (more than 15 people) should dispose of garbage by daily incineration in a fuel-fired incinerator that meets ADEC standards. Alternatively, garbage could be hauled daily to an ADEC-approved regional disposal site. Temporary storage of garbage prior to incineration or backhaul should be in a bear-proof enclosure (building, steel shipping container, or bear-proof fence).

   A bear-proof fence to prevent bears from obtaining any food or garbage should surround these camps. Alternatively, dining halls, kitchens, sleeping areas, and incinerators should be fenced, and no food or putrescible wastes allowed to be left in vehicles.

5. Small permanent facilities (e.g., lodges, weather stations) or large nonpermanent camps (e.g., project fires) should daily segregate and store garbage in a bear-proof container for frequent (at a minimum, weekly) backhaul to an approved disposal site. Alternatively, (a) putrescible waste and other combustibles could be incinerated in a locally fabricated incinerator meeting ADEC standards for residue, or (b) garbage grinders with disposal to a sewer system could be used to remove putrescible waste, while contaminated combustible and non-combustible wastes could be incinerated or temporarily stored as above.

   Human and livestock food at small camps should be kept in a bear-proof building or container, or otherwise stored in a manner that prevents access by bears.

6. In urban areas within bear habitat, residential garbage should be stored inside the home or garage until the morning of garbage pickup. If stored outside the home, human and animal food and putrescible wastes should be stored in sealed bear-proof containers or within a bear-proof enclosure. Residential transfer stations should use bear-proof bins or be enclosed within a bear-proof fence or enclosure. Residential, commercial, or industrial bins where garbage is disposed require bear-proof lids, and any side openings or other features that facilitate human use should also be bear-proof.

   Residential pet and livestock food stored outside a secure building should be in a bear-proof container. Uneaten pet and livestock food should be removed and stored. Bird feeders should be taken down during the season when bears are active.

7. Although it is not necessary to remove fish or game carcasses from the field, these should not be left at a site frequented by people nor should they be left in or near a campsite or other place with high potential for bear/human conflicts.
8. Small parties using Alaska's backcountry should burn, not bury, all putrescible waste and pack out all non-combustibles. Putrescible waste should not be discarded along trails. Food should be kept in bear-proof containers, or stored in a manner that prevents access by bears.
9. In all new parks, roadside facilities, and temporary construction worksites located in bear habitat, bear-proof garbage cans and regular garbage pickup should be required. This requirement should be phased into all existing facilities as soon as possible.

   Bear-proof food storage should also be provided at new campgrounds, and at remote construction worksites where employees do not use the main camp for meals.

10. Baiting and feeding bears and other wild game by photographers, tourists, hunters or others is prohibited by regulation (5 AAC 92.230) except for trapping furbearers or hunting black bears consistent with regulations on black bear baiting [5 AAC 92.085(4)].
11. Bears currently accustomed to eating garbage should be handled on a case-by-case basis according to ADF&G “Policy for Managing Bear/Human Conflicts in Alaska.”

Definitions

Combustible: wood, paper, or plastic products which can be completely burned to ash with a normal fire (e.g., campfire).

Field camp: a field facility (including cabins, trailers, or tents) used for sleeping and feeding people (e.g., at mines, logging camps, oil and mineral exploration camps, fish camps, lodges, research facilities, remote fish hatcheries, fish weirs, etc.).

Food-conditioning: the process by which animals learn to associate human dwellings or activities with a food source (either human, pet or livestock food, or garbage). Usually the result of the bear being fed deliberately or inadvertently by people, or by obtaining garbage. Food conditioning can occur with or without concurrent habituation.

Garbage: human refuse that may attract bears, including putrescible waste and products that may contain food or food residue, and a wide variety of organic products.

Habituation: the process by which animals learn to regard humans as neutral. Habituated bears may become dangerous, especially if they become food-conditioned.

Putrescible waste: as derived from the ADEC definition, organic waste that can bacterially decompose and create odors that may attract bears. These include, but are not limited to, discarded processed human and animal foods or food residues, discarded animal or plant parts, sewage solids or residue, and domestic sanitary waste.

Residential pet and livestock food: human food scraps or commercially prepared pet food (e.g., dog or cat pellets) fed to pets; livestock pellets or meal; bird seed, suet or artificial nectar fed to wild birds. “Livestock” in the context here is primarily for personal or small-scale commercial use, not large-scale farming or ranching as an industrial activity.

Sealed bear-proof container: a container sealed to prevent the escape of attractant odors and strong enough to exclude a bear from the contents. For example, the USFS criteria for “bear-proof” container include: (a) resist a direct force of 200 foot-pounds; and (b) contain no cracks, external hinges, gaps, etc. by which a bear can force the container open using claws or teeth.

Related links: Living in Harmony with Bears Bear Facts: Traveling in Bear Country