Bear Smart Three Rivers is Underway
Community Members Established Action Teams to Meet Specific Objectives
On 10 March 2025, community members held the Bear Smart Three Rivers Grand Kickoff Meeting at the Bequette House. It was a working meeting, but it didn’t lack the necessary fun and festive elements, including cake and fresh berries.
A summary of the meeting follows. If you are interested in participating in any of the “action teams” working on specific objectives, please let us know by emailing info@3rtogether.org.
Attendees: 12
Minutes:
1. Overview of meeting objectives and agenda: Laile Di Silvestro
2. Introductory comments: Eddie Valero
– Eddie welcomed all the participants and provided an excellent summary of the significance of our work and its context. His comments provided the framework and set the stage for the following agenda items.
3. Briefing on the current situation, the critical role bears play in the ecosystem, the importance of preserving natural bear behaviors, and the adverse impacts of failure to do so: Sandy Herrera (SEKI)
– Sandy is the lead bear technician for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. In her talk, she provided a graph showing the number of bear-human conflicts and how that number has changed over the years. She also provided an overview of bear behavior and how it impacts Three Rivers, summarized the critical role bears play in our ecosystem, and reiterated the importance of keeping bears wild.
4. Overview of a proposed approach based on best practices employed by other communities: Laile Di Silvestro
– This agenda item was truncated because all the attendees had read the proposed draft action plan.
– You can view the presentation here: Bear Smart Kickoff v2
– You can view the draft proposed action plan at here: Bear Smart Three Rivers Action Plan v3
5. Establishment of “action teams” to meet specific action plan objectives.
– The overall goal of the Bear Smart Three Rivers effort is to minimize human-bear conflicts effectively and affordably by adopting best practices implemented by other communities.
– The following action teams were established to meet specific objectives:
1. Solid Waste Management: Reduce garbage-based food sources through the mandated use of affordable bear-resistant containers or enclosures that have been proven effective.
– This action team has identified potential vendors and is currently finalizing a requirements document and determining the number and size of containers needed.
2. Education and Outreach: Educate residents, property owners, businesses, and visitors about bear behavior, bear safety measures, and the steps we all must take to minimize human-bear conflicts.
– This action team is currently working on a detailed communications plan.
3. Monitoring Network: Establish a robust neighborhood-based monitoring system to alert residents of the presence of bears so that action can be taken to secure food and attractants and haze the bears if necessary.
4. Ordinances: Implement ordinances and enforcement mechanisms that support bear smart practices
– This action team is currently reviewing a draft ordinance.
5. Incident Response: Work with Fish and Wildlife and other government organizations to establish a response system for bear-related incidents.
6. Finances: Develop a detailed budget and secure immediate and long-term funding sources.
These objectives, along with guidance based on best practices and links to resources, are described in the proposed action plan draft.
Next Steps:
– The members of the action teams will continue to work together to meet their specific objectives and update their sections of the action plan.
– Laile Di Silvestro will provide an update to the community a Special Community Meeting being hosted by the CSD at 6pm on April 15th at St. Anthony’s. Please attend if at all possible!