Learn about living with bears; creating bear smart communities; recreating in bear country; bear safety at work; and managing bears (for wildlife officials).

Bear Hazard Assessments

Completing a Bear Hazard Assessment

Figuring Out Where the Problems Are

The first step is to figure out exactly what (and where) the problems are. Conducting a preliminary bear hazard assessment will provide a general but community-specific overview of human-bear conflicts in and adjacent to the community. A comprehensive preliminary bear hazard assessment should:

  1. Identify sites, areas, trails, and practices that have historic, existing and potential levels of human-bear conflict.
  2. Identify gaps in the existing knowledge of bear use and human-bear conflict in the area and provide recommendations for further investigation and additional hazard assessment phases.
  3. Develop management recommendations to reduce existing and potential conflict within the community.

Preliminary bear hazard assessments should be comprised of several key components. For more information on conducting an effective preliminary bear hazard assessment, please refer to sections 6 and 7 in B.C.’s Bear Smart Community Program – Background Report, or download Ontario’s Bear Wise Community Hazard Assessment Outline. Sample: Bow Valley BHA.

They should also be completed or approved by a registered professional biologist with expertise in bear ecology and behaviour and human-bear conflicts.

Bears are often needlessly killed, not for what they have done, but for what people think they might do. Many people unjustifiably fear bears, and still believe they cannot survive where humans exist. This is a fallacy. – Gary Alt, bear biologist as quoted in Living with Bears, by Linda Masterson