The city is amending its curbside collection bylaw, in part to address bear attractants on Salmon Arm properties.
On March 11, city council gave three readings to a curbside collection amendment bylaw intended to address “appropriate storage of containers and bags to reduce wildlife attractants.” The amendment also clarifies billing and payments, addressing when the service is to be paid “as it pertains to the construction of a new curbside household.”
In a report to council, city engineering and public works director Rob Niewenhuizen explained how over the past two years, the city has been working with WildSafeBC, having “enlisted the services of a WildSafeBC Community Co-ordinator to assist with educating residents on how to reduce wildlife attractants on their properties, with a key objective of properly managing curbside collection materials.”
Niewenhuizen said over that time, the city saw an increasing number of reports regarding black bears. In 2022, there was a 68 per cent increase over the previous six-year average, with a slight decrease in 2023, commented Niewenhuizen, noting this has “coincided in an increasing number of reports from residents about black bears damaging their curbside collection food waste bins.”
To address this, Niewenhuizen said the city needs residents to help reduce wildlife attractants related to curbside collection by not placing their containers and bags at the curb until the morning of their designated collection days, not the night before.
To further strengthen the bylaw, city staff proposed it be amended to require residents to store their curbside collection containers and bags, when not out for collection, “in a location or manner on their property that is inaccessible to wildlife.”
“We have to make these amendments so we can actually enforce these issues,” said Niewenhuizen.
Commenting on the proposed amendments, Coun. Sylvia Lindgren noted there are now Conservation officers in Salmon Arm.
“And they have some pretty strict rules about, when bears get into garbage or become habituated, hanging around homes, they have to be put down,” said Lindgren. “So this change is really important, I think, for the protection of the bears themselves. It’s really proactive… to make sure bears are staying out of the city and not getting themselves into situations where Conservation is forced to deal with them.”
Council voted unanimously in support of the amendments.
Read more: WildSafe BC Columbia Shuswap branch shares bear aware tips
Read more: Viewpoint: Salmon Arm curbside collection service largely a win
