Port Moody, B.C., declared Bear Smart Community after 2-decade endeavor
After a more than 20-year effort, Port Moody has been officially declared a Bear Smart Community, one of only 11 cities to have been given the hard-won provincial designation.
Mayor Meghan Lahti, Couns. Haven Lurbiecki and Kyla Knowles, MLA Rick Glumac, city staff, wildlife advocates, and B.C. conservation officers gathered in Port Moody’s Pioneer Park to celebrate the accomplishment Tuesday.
Lahti said the designation means Port Moody has the highest standard of proactive public safety measures possible, and the status can only be attained by completing an “long exhaustive list” of criteria.
“I am so proud to be here today to celebrate an incredible achievement that has been years in the making,” she said. “A number of other municipalities are looking to replicate what we’ve just done.”
The Bear Smart Community Program was initiated by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Union of BC Municipalities and the BC Conservation Foundation to reduce human-bear conflicts by taking aims at the root causes.
It is a voluntary program that encourages collaboration and wide adoption of preventative steps across communities.
Port Moody has been actively trying to attain the Bear Smart Community status since 2000, when it started its Bear Essentials education program, teaching residents about bear behaviour and managing attractants with targeted communications.
Julie Pavey-Tomlinson, Port Moody’s general Manager of community services, said when she started working at the city in the late 1990s, open garbage cans in parks and attractants could be found everywhere.
An internal memo she wrote led to the city taking the first in a long list of preventive steps to start making Port Moody a more bear-friendly community.
“There was generally a feeling when you talked to people (back then) that it was really public safety versus wildlife consideration,” Pavey-Tomlinson said. “What’s important for protecting wildlife, also helps protect people. Having attractants around really doesn’t make anything safe.”
Mayor Meghan Lahti (centre) received a plaque from the BC Conservation Officers Service on behalf of the city on June 25. (Patrick Penner/Local Journalism Initiative Reporter)Since then, reducing human-bear conflicts has been incorporated into city planning documents, decision making and procedures, Lahti said.
These changes have led to increased bylaw enforcement, enhanced habitat connectivity, the development of preferred plant lists for landscaping near bear-prone areas, and updated requirements around solid waste storage.
Most recently, the city completed Bear Hazard Assessment in 2019, leading to the development of a comprehensive Human-Bear Conflict Management Plan.
Lahti acknowledged Port Moody’s new designation would not have been achieved without the dedication of local environmental groups.
The Tri-Cities Bear Aware Group and its founder, Carla Parr-Pearson, were given special recognition. The group was founded in 2019 in response to the number of bears having to be killed in the city and surrounding area.
Members have dedicated thousands of volunteer hours visiting more than 6,000 homes in Port Moody to provide educational outreach.
Parr-Pearson said she had a “wake up call” after a mother bear and its cubs were killed in her neighbourhood. She said she began documenting local conflicts, trying to educate her neighbours, and reporting repeat offenders.
“I used to wake up every morning and walk down my street and there’d be garbage cans tipped over on the street and all over the place,” Parr-Pearson said. “We’re no longer observing mother bears and cubs in well known chronic hotspots; instead we’re observing them passing through.
“I’m incredibly proud that leaving (storage waste) carts unsecured or non-collection days is no longer the accepted norm, and storing carts in bear-resistant enclosures is becoming a standard practice.”
Chief Conservation Officer Cameron Schley with the BC Conservation Officers Service (BCCOS) said Port Moody has displayed: “innovation, dedication and persistence” in solving difficult waste-management issues.
BCCOS was forced to kill 603 black bears in 2023, a record number, yet no bears have had to be destroyed in Port Moody since 2021.
“The proof is in the pudding, as the old saying goes,” Schley said.
According to a Freedom of Information request published by The Fur-Bearers, 11 black bears were killed in Port Moody between 2016 and 2021. In that same timeframe, 107 were killed across the Tri-Cities.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Flash flooding in B.C. Interior affects at least 20 homes, emergency officials say
At least 20 homes have been affected by flash flooding in the British Columbia Interior following heavy rains that forced the overnight closure of the Trans-Canada Highway near Kamloops.
Fire at gas metering station sparks grass fire that shut Alberta highway
Yellowhead County in west-central Alberta says a fire that prompted the closure of a major highway west of Edmonton involved a gas metering station.
These ultraprocessed foods may shorten your life, study says
Eating higher levels of ultraprocessed food may shorten lifespans by more than 10 per cent, according to a new, unpublished study of over 500,000 people whom researchers followed for nearly three decades.
Eddie Murphy is still stung by that David Spade joke on 'Saturday Night Live'
Eddie Murphy is reflecting on some of the “cheap shots” he feels he’s taken over the years.
If you qualify for this tax credit, you can expect a payment in your bank account this week
The next quarterly GST/HST tax credit payment is expected to go out this week, according to the Canada Revenue Agency.
Judge calls Jeffrey Epstein 'most infamous pedophile in American history' as he releases transcripts
A Florida judge released Monday afternoon the transcripts of a 2006 grand jury investigation that looked into sex trafficking and rape allegations made against the late millionaire and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. Supreme Court rules Trump has immunity for official, not private acts
The U.S. Supreme Court found on Monday that Donald Trump cannot be prosecuted for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as president, but can for private acts, in a landmark ruling recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.
This 12-year-old memorized the periodic table at age two. He's heading to NYU after finishing high school in just two years
Recent high school graduate Suborno Isaac Bari, 12, plans to start studying math and physics at New York University in the fall, but he’s already got his ambitious sights set on beginning a doctoral program.
Possible indecent gesture at Euro 2024 game under investigation
England star Jude Bellingham is being investigated by UEFA over a potentially offensive gesture made during a European Championship win against Slovakia.