Annotated Transcript, Summary, and Recording Now Available
For Board of Supervisors 28 October Discussion of Bear Management Area Ordinance
Full Summary: Summary – Board of Supervisors Meeting -102825
Annotated Transcript: Board of Supervisors Meeting – 10282025
Recording: https://youtu.be/9dfg-HI4Bvk?t=4931
On 28 October 2025 at 9:00 am, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors held a regular meeting that covered several topics. The main event was a lengthy and contentious public hearing and board debate regarding a proposed garbage ordinance that would affect the community of Three Rivers, the primary gateway to Sequoia National Park. The Bear Smart Three Rivers team has provided an annotated transcript of the discussion that exposes the untruthful and misleading statements that informed the vote to introduce the ordinance. The purported intent of the proposed ordinance is to mitigate the human-bear conflict in Three Rivers that is driven by inadequate garbage management. The proposed ordinance would not provide any meaningful improvement, however. It would mandate any gray-waste carts a hauler chooses to label “bear resistant,” as well as the metal bins responsible for 47% of the garbage related incidents in 2025. It would not address the recycling and organic waste containers responsible for more than 25% of the 2025 garbage-related incidents. Despite the negligible public benefit that the ordinance would provide, Tulare County Solid Waste proposed to increase Three Rivers cart service fees almost 30% and bin service fees 10%. Several residents from the Three Rivers community spoke in opposition to the ordinance, citing issues with cost, effectiveness, and a lack of community collaboration. After hearing from the public and the waste hauler, the board debated the matter heatedly, with clear divisions among the supervisors, before ultimately passing the ordinance on a 3-2 vote.
[From the Bear Smart Three Rivers team]
2 responses to “Bear Smart Team Exposes Board of Supervisors Meeting Misinformation”
Thank you, Bear Smart Three Rivers team for your annotated copy of the Board of Supervisors discussion at the 10/28/2025 Board Meeting. It is quite clear that the Board was not adequately prepared by Solid Waste Management to discuss the fundamentals of a bear proof system with the vendor or the public.
I urge the Board to initiate an interim ordinance which provides “refuse containers cannot be placed in the road right-of-way until the day of that certain refuse pickup and must be removed from the road within one additional day.”
This would mitigate the bear/animal issues temporarily while a logical (tested) solution which conforms to County regulations can be found.
Excellent idea. Put the bear attractive trash out the day of pick up. That’s what we do and have had no problems with the bears