Green space management involves managing the natural and non-natural habitat components in and adjacent to the community. Natural features of the habitat that may be attractive to bears and contribute to human-bear conflicts, include vegetation components that contain natural foods; or are used as travel corridors by bears; or that limit the visibility of bears (and humans), which may increase the potential for unexpected encounters.

Other natural features, such as rivers or creeks running through town also have the potential to prevent bears from hearing the approach of humans on greenbelt trails resulting in surprise encounters. These natural features of the community are typically identified in the bear hazard assessment and included in the bear management plan along with recommendations on how to resolve their potential to cause conflicts. Steps designed to eliminate the potential for these non-natural features to contribute to a conflict situation in the community should also be addressed in the communities' bear management plan.

Green spaces can include vacant properties that are over-grown with vegetation, undeveloped areas adjacent to the community, parks, trail networks and alleyways, children's playgrounds, school playing fields, golf courses, ski hills, hydro-transmission right-of-ways and small residual forest patches or landscaped strips left throughout developed zones.

Removing plants attractive to bears

It is important to remove plants (or their fruit) that are attractive to bears (like artificially planted shrubs and trees that produce berries/fruit) in areas where you don't want bears to feed. The main areas of concern should be heavy-use human areas, particularly adjacent to children's play areas and the core area of the community. Give consideration to walkways and entrances, as well as areas with busy vehicular traffic - nothing draws a bear close to a highway like a sprouting patch of clover.

Brushing

In some communities, bears may use vegetation cover within and adjacent to the community for security cover while feeding on garbage and other non-natural attractants. As long as bears have access to non-natural foods, removing brush that provides security cover for bears may reduce the likelihood that some bears will travel through the community.

However, eliminating access to non-natural foods in the community will likely have a greater influence on decreasing the
probability that bears will use the inner areas of the community. If non-natural foods are no longer available to bears, brushing can then be focused on achieving the following objectives:

• reduce the habitat potential in natural feeding areas that are commonly used by humans by removing natural bear foods, and

• increase visibility where people are most likely to surprise bears, such as along trails, and in areas with user groups that may be at higher risk such as schools, playgrounds, and campgrounds, particularly those in areas that are on the outer edges of the community.

Consider the bigger picture

Green spaces are an integral part of the design of many communities to enhance their natural attractiveness. Other species using green spaces should be documented and the potential impacts on these species assessed if brushing occurs. Mitigation measures to reduce the impacts to other species should be taken. In some cases there will be a trade off between the benefits of clearing or modifying green space in terms of increasing human safety versus the cost of eliminating natural bear or other wildlife habitats. The risk of human-bear conflict relative to the cost to other species and the priorities of the community should be evaluated when establishing plans to remove vegetation.

Recommended Actions

1. Formally identify and map problem areas that will require continual removal of brush, such as parks, schools, playgrounds, and campgrounds as well as alleys that bears are using for cover.
   

2. Direct the removal or modification of green space by brushing vegetation to reduce security cover and habitat potential in areas of high human use (e.g., removing brush around portions of parks, schools, playgrounds, golf courses, and campsites and in areas adjacent to residences in high-risk attraction areas).
   

3. Develop a community landscaping plan that avoids the use of fruit trees and other plants the may act as attractants to bears.

4. Adjustments to the landscape plan may include removing existing fruit trees/shrubs (or their fruit) or other plants that are attractive to bears as a food source and have been identified as sources of human-bear conflict.