Wintergreen Resort, a resi-dential and vacationcommunity nestled
against the Blue Ridge Parkway inNelson County, is a place where it issometimes hard to tell where the for-est ends and the real estate begins, es-pecially if you are a bear. Promptedby a series of break-ins by bears to re-sort homes in 2007 and the removalor euthanasia of nine bears over twoyears, Wintergreen residents decidedto take action to make theirs a com-munity where both people and bearscould coexist.
Wintergreen Property OwnersAssociation staff and Wintergreen
police began cooperating with De-partment (DGIF) biologists and lawenforcement officers on measures tocurtail the bear-related problems oc-curring at the resort. Public refuse fa-cilities were secured and homeown-ers were advised on managing trashand bird feeders. And to increasebear awareness by residents and visi-tors, the Wintergreen Nature Foun-dation hosted a seminar given byDGIF on black bears, with focus onpreventing further negative interac-tions.
Fueled by a strong desire to pre-vent future conflicts, Wintergreenresidents Sarah and Robert Scottfounded the Wintergreen Bear Smartprogram. After reading about theBear Smart effort in British Columbiain the book Living with Bears: APracti-cal Guide to Bear Country by LindaMasterson, the Scotts decided to starttheir own Bear Smart community.
The Wintergreen Bear Smart pro-gram is governed by a seven-person
council, made up of full-time resi-dents. The council assessed the con-ditions that were contributing to thehabituation of bears to people such asbird feeding and unsecured garbage.Another important task was to gainthe cooperation of other Wintergreencommunity organizations to supportthe new Bear Smart program.
The success that the Bear Smartprogram has experienced can be seenin the numbers. Since 2007, the num-ber of bear incidents has dropped byover 80%, and those resulting indamage to homes or property havedecreased by over 90%. In 2009, a fewbears were seen and at least one win-dow screen was damaged, but ha-rassment by Wintergreen policeproved effective. No traps were setand no bears were euthanized.
So, how did this community begintheir road to successful and harmo-nious coexistence of humans andbears? To begin the process, con-cerned Wintergreen residents met
with the local DGIF district wildlifebiologist to discuss the Bear Smartprogram. Then, by following BearSmart guidelines, they established theBear Smart Council and met witheach of the various boards at Winter-green to explain the program and so-licit cooperation. From these meet-ings, the council received full commit-ment from the various boards, includ-ing the Wintergreen Property OwnersAssociation Board, which had alreadybegun to minimize conflicts at trashdisposal sites. The next step focusedon media outreach and programs forlocal groups to promote community-wide efforts.
Another major step occurred whenthe property owners associationpassed resolutions requiring home-owners to stop feeding birds betweenApril 1 and December 1 and bannedoutside garbage cans unless theywere bear-proof. The council request-ed that the association purchase bear-proof containers for public-use areas,in addition to the large compactors al-ready on-site.
Other proactive measures taken bythe Wintergreen community includedrecord-keeping by Wintergreen policeon bear incidents and sightings, andimmediate response by the police de-partment to all bear incidents. TheWintergreen Property Owners Asso-ciation agreed to pay for and put upsigns, as well as post information ontheir Web site concerning bear activityin the area. Wintergreen Partners, Inc.provided garbage management andbear literature to arriving resortguests. They also show the Depart-ment’s DVD, Living with Black Bears inVirginia, on the in-house TV. In addi-tion to no longer selling bird foodfrom April to December, the Winter-green Nature Foundation published aspecial brochure on black bears thatincludes precautions when encoun-
tering bears in the wild and aroundhomes. The foundation also has theblack bears DVD available for view-ing by visitors.
When asked to provide advice forcommunities that might want to starta Bear Smart program of their own,the Scotts offer the following tips: • It must be a citizens’ effort to en-
gage the various entities who havea stake in managing the bear prob-lem in the community.
• The education of communitymembers regarding the habitua-tion of bears is essential.
• It is important to not assign blamefor the problem to various peopleor agencies and, rather, just dealwith the facts on what is happen-ing and what would solve theproblem.
Also, an assessment of communityconditions (found at http://www.bearsmart.com/becoming-bear-smart/community/bear-hazard-assessments) was reported alongwith recommendations to each com-munity entity.
What does the future hold forhuman-bear relationships on this11,000-acre community on the easternslopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains?The Bear Smart Council pledges tocontinue to educate the communityregarding program progress andbring awareness to continuing prob-lems. The Wintergreen PropertyOwners Association will continue tosend out letters to residents yearly re-minding them of their responsibili-ties, enforce bird feeding and trashregulations, and keep DGIF up-to-date on non-compliance or illegalfeeding activities. The Departmentwill continue to support this programand community by providing educa-tion and enforcement as needed.
The Bear Smart Council, resi-dents, and all Wintergreen entitiesunderstand that the Bear Smart pro-gram will be an ongoing effort withcontinuing challenges due to theconstant influx of new residents andguests. However, they feel that thereward—being able to live in a com-munity surrounded by the beauty ofthe natural world and associatedwildlife, with little to no conflict—isworth the challenge.
All residents of Virginia living inbear country can benefit from follow-ing a few simple guidelines to reducebear attractants around their homes.View tips and guidelines by watch-ing the video, Living with Black Bearsin Virginia, on the DGIF Web site(www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/bear/). To learn about becoming aBear Smart Community, first contactthis Department for site-specific as-sistance and recommendations, andvisit the Get Bear Smart Society Website: www.bearsmart.com. nn
Jaime Sajecki is the bear biologist for the Depart-ment of Game and Inland Fisheries.
