City Council forming “Bear Advisory Committee” and considering fruit tree removal incentive program

Prince George City Council took multiple steps to help deal with bears in the community at last night’s (Monday) meeting.

Last year saw a record number of bear calls for Prince George Conservation Officers.

The first steps came from a notice of motion that was presented by Councillor Kyle Sampson.

In the notice of motion, Sampson called on City Administration to return a report outlining immediate opportunities and considerations for bear proofing the community, and that Administration draft a term of reference for a four-month (amended from three months), limited “Bear Advisory Committee.”

“I think having this two-pronged approach, being able to address some things right away as a city, but also having some input from experts to share suggested direction for us is going to be a great way for us to get the information and plan for it in our budget process early next year,” Sampson said.

Councillor Brian Skakun said he felt lack of enforcement is the driving factor on the increase in bear encounter numbers in Prince George.

“I watched it on the weekend near my house, a guy called the Conservation Officer and they almost put down a bear, because the bear got habituated to come and take his garbage out of his garage can, he finally put it in his shed, it broke into his shed and then he called conservation, lucky it was a young enough bear that they were either going to tranquilize or trap it,” Skakun said.

“Right now, the bears are going to the human attractants, they’re going to people’s garbage cans, and if they’re not secured, they’re going in there and they end up getting put down. I think at some point there’s got to be more enforcement, and that’s not a nice thing to say but if people keep on putting their garbage out overnight before garbage day, if they keep putting their garbage out with all the attractants in it and it’s not secure in their yard, bears are going to die.”

The motions included in the Notice of Motion were passed.

Following the discussion on the notice of motion, council discussed a fruit tree removal incentive program.

Under the program, eligible residents would apply through an online form to indicate interest.

The approval process would include confirmation by City of Prince George staff the tree is on private property, and it is a species considered bear attracting.

The resident would then contact a licenced arborist or tree removal service so safely remove the fruit tree from the property.

Once the tree is removed, the applicant would contact the City to inform the work is completed, and City Staff would follow up to ensure the tree was removed properly, and make arrangements to receive a copy of the invoice for reimbursement.

“I believe if we want to make a difference we have to have some skin in the game,” said Director of Civic Operations Blake McIntosh.

“$500 for one season is basically 20 trees. We’re not going to be able to solve every fruit tree in the city, this is going to be a program, it’s going to be a process.”

McIntosh added addressing city owned fruit trees will be the same process.

Council voted to refer the program to the new committee to get an opinion on the viability of the program.