Hazard/Conflict Assessments
An important early step in any Bear Smart effort is to figure out exactly what (and where) the problems are. Conducting a preliminary bear hazard assessment (also called a conflict or community assessments) 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:
Identify sites, areas, trails, and practices that have historic, existing and potential levels of human-bear conflict.
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.
Develop management recommendations to reduce existing and potential conflict within the community.
For more information on conducting an effective preliminary assessment, please refer to sections 6 and 7 in B.C.’s Bear Smart Community Program Background Report. Communities in the U.S. should also look at section 2 of the IGBC manual.
It’s important to remember that while the components of an assessment should be similar across communities (including information about current bear populations, history of human-bear interactions, attractants throughout the community, past and ongoing education and outreach efforts, solid waste management, etc.), the assessment itself will look different. This is especially true for U.S. communities, as they do not submit the assessment to any entity as a part of a certification process; some assessments may include multiple pages of maps and references, while others may only be a few pages long. The most important part is that the information is holistic and can guide a community as they work to understand and address conflicts.
Here are some example assessments from communities in Canada and the U.S.: