Mayer: Where do bears go when we cannot see them?
Guest Columnist
Courtesy photo
Black bears stand united and will not continue to tolerate disrespect from the residents and visitors of Aspenville. In protest, the bears have left hanging out in tall ponderosa pines, stopped wandering around town, and posing for pictures with their incredibly cute cubs and yearlings, eliminating residents delightful and free entertainment.
Many have headed up to the top of the mountains — where there is plenty of nuts, fruits, dead stuff to eat — or have gone east where residential development is not as dense as in town.
No more “one strike, you are out” brutality. No more trying to come into houses with open doors and windows that careless residents have left open, thus, tempting the bears. No more being chased by dogs off their leashes (Although it is a known fact within the tight-knit bear community that Max, the fearless chocolate lab up top Oakley Road, is reverend for his chasing expertise — we digress).
Too many years have gone by where bears are punished for doing what bears to best: EAT! Their extra keen sense of smell and hearing gets them into trouble by people being lazy.
Although there is plenty of natural food up on the mountains, bears have become trained to grab easy eatings by inconsiderate residents and visitors who are carelessly leaving doors, windows, sliders, garage doors open where there are countless temptations to eat dog food left in bowls outside; burger, hot dog, chicken juices on the BBQ not scraped away nor the grease tray taken away; and bird feeders in easy reach of climbing bears … one of bears exceptional athletic skills is climbing.
Another amazing athletic bear skill is running upwards of 35 miles per hour — don’t even try to out run a bear! Even Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt running 27.7 mph could not outrun a bear.
The ultimate disrespect on the part of residents is not having bear-proof rubbish bins and leaving them out well before rubbish pick-up day and not returning them to a secure place well after rubbish pick-up day.
Commercial restaurants and condominium complexes in town are equally disrespectful letting dumpsters become over-filled and not locking the lids. It’s tempting the bears with “le speciality du jour.”
Although bears do not drive, they love getting into cars for countless cookie, cracker, power bar, French frys crumbs dropped on the floors. Windows rolled up and doors locked is an easy way to prevent this bear temptation.
Bears are wild animals and deserve the respect and consideration of the all residents and visitors of Aspinville, for that fact, everyone’s respect in areas where wild bears, all sorts of sizes, colors, species live. It just takes a little common sense, a little extra effort to keep bears out of trouble.
We are talking RESPECT in capital letters — here are some helpful, easy to remember hints:
Rubbish bins/ dumpsters with tasty bear morsels need to a properly secured, locked, put away when it’s not rubbish, garage pick-up day.
Extra pet food not eaten by your pets need to be put away from the reach of bears.
Secure/lock your doors, windows, sliders at your houses, cars, campers, and put up “bears are not welcomed signs” to prevent Smokey, Yogi, Boo Boo, Poo, and countless friends entering.
Place all types birdie feeders well above where curious, climbing bears can climb and eat. Clean up birdie feeder droppings on the ground.
Eliminate all bear temptations whenever possible — bears are very clever and are driven by food. Eliminate fruit from your trees, and plant nonfruit-producing tress/plants in the future. Eliminate tree branches close to your house and exterior deck to prevent climbing bears entering unwanted.
Clank pots and pans together when you see bears come close to your house/property. Keep this exercise up, don’t be lazy — bears will get the picture; they are not welcomed.
Take extra time to secure your surroundings to help bears not get into trouble. When they get into trouble, oftentimes they get a one way ticket to heaven — and that is not where we want the bears to go when we cannot see them.
Debra Mayer is a Roaring Fork Valley resident.
Foster: Eliminate parking at Snowmass Draw Site, add more units
The general consensus is that the Roaring Fork Valley has good public transit services. This would lead one to believe that you can comfortably live here without owning a car but if you suggest a reduction of parking spaces for employee housing, others quickly push back. If you ask for more funding to expand the RFTA services, people are quick to point out that it is not profitable, and therefore a failure. Then they turn around and demand free access to roads, free parking, and more “because I pay a gas tax.” But almost one ever asks how much it costs to build roads and parking, it is simply demanded they exist and are cheap to use.
