Enhancing Bear Habitat with the Press of a Button

Across rural Montana, garbage dumps are ubiquitous. Away from urban areas, most people have to store their garbage at home until they take it the local dump site, which in many areas is some distance away.

Garbage scatters the ground at the Pony refuse site having been pulled out of open garbage bins by wildlife.

Until recently, if you were to drive between Harrison and Pony, Montana, you would have found an unsecured dump site. Garbage that was supposed to be in one of two huge garbage bins scattered the creek bottom and stuck to nearby willows—not because of the wind, but because of wildlife. Worn down paths led to spots amongst the brush where animals would settle down and snack on what they pulled from the open bins. On a recent visit, skunk and racoon prints were visible in the mud, but larger prints can also be found. Black bears are known to frequent this site. And there are potentially bigger problems.

From a wide vantage point near the dump site, Kim Johnston, People and Carnivores’ Field Project Manager, pointed north. Grizzlies wandering down from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem have been confirmed only a handful of miles away from the dump. Kim turned 90 degrees to face the Tobacco Roots to the west. “There are grizzlies just on the other side of those mountains,” she said. Another 90-degree turn showed off the Madison Range where grizzlies from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem roam. It seems only a matter of time before grizzlies will meet in the middle—a place where open garbage bins could get them into trouble.

Thankfully, this threat to wildlife can now be secured with the press of a button. People and Carnivores has been working across the High Divide to secure dump sites. At the Pony refuse site, we just installed a hydraulic lid operating system that allows dump users to open and close the lids as needed.

Lids are normally only closed when bins are getting hauled off to the county landfill and require a special tool to do so. We partnered with the Madison County Commission and Solid Waste Manager to come up with a way to prevent human-carnivore conflict and reduce litter around the site, and we received funding from the County and the Animal Welfare Institute to put it in place. Now, anyone can open and close the lids, thanks to the skilled folks at Beaverhead Electric who installed and helped us develop the operating system (and have helped us install the system at two other sites in the High Divide).

The newly installed hydraulic lid operating system at the Pony refuse site. A sign tells users how to operate the straightforward system by using the orange button pads.

While a closed lid might not sound like much, it can make a life-saving difference for a bear. If bears become conditioned to eating garbage (like at an open dump), they are likely to keep searching for unnatural foods, which can bring them into conflict with humans. By properly securing garbage, whether it’s through closing off a dump, storing residential garbage in a hard-sided building, or using a bear-resistant garbage can, bears are less likely to get used to and seek out these unnatural food sources. Properly secured garbage means bears can avoid getting hung up on this deadly attractant and keep moving.

As black bears visit the dump and find their former snacking site closed, they’ll likely wander the surrounding area in search of other easy meals. We’re working with residents surrounding the site to spread the word about garbage security and we’re distributing bear-resistant garbage cans to those who need them. The goal is to make this area safer for wildlife—including black bears and future grizzlies and the people who live alongside them.

Watch the video below to see how this system works.