Get Bear Smart partnered with the Habitat Improvement Team (HIT) to plant another 100 mountain-ash trees (sorbus sitchensis) on Whistler Mountain. This brings the total number of mountain-ash planted on Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains in the past two years to over 350.

Enhancing natural habitat in areas surrounding human development can be a good way to keep bears out of residential areas. Mountain-ash trees produce fruit during the fall when other food sources have been depleted and conflicts in the valley bottom are high. The idea is to draw bears out of conflict areas and up on the mountains where they can feed out of conflict.

It is also important to remove trees/shrubs in areas where bears are not welcome. The plants used for this project were removed from the landscaping at The Residences at Nita Lake in Whistler. They were replaced with a non-bear-attractive species, in this case, a variety of maple. Many thanks to the strata council and residents of Nita Lake as well as the property management company (Mountain Country Property Management) for helping to organize the event. Many thanks as well to the volunteers for their hard work digging.