Community Group
Bear Smart Missoula
The goal of Bear Smart Missoula is to address the root causes of human-bear conflicts and reduce the risk to human safety and private property, as well as the number of bears that are killed and/or relocated each year. The Missoula Bears website assists the Bear Smart Missoula effort by disseminating bear awareness information and by providing The Missoula Bear Smart Working Group with an online platform to gather data.
We work with local organizations, agencies, and residents to implement community initiatives that promote responsible attractant management, including community bear awareness campaigns. We collaborate with Missoula Bears on research, data collection, and monitoring to better understand bear behavior and population dynamics in the area.
Securing Attractants
Bear Smart Working Group
Applying the concepts of the Bear Smart Community Program to the Missoula area, a group of concerned citizens, biologists, agency bear managers, local waste haulers, non-governmental organizations and employees of Missoula County and the City of Missoula got together and formed the Missoula Bear Smart Working Group. The group has its roots in the working group that was instrumental in the drafting and passage of the City Wildlife Feeding Ordinance and establishment of the City’s Bear Buffer Zone and its accompanying garbage management rules during the past 15 years.
- Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department (MFWP)
- Chris Servheen — Co-Chair, IUCN North American Bears Expert Team
- City of Missoula
- Missoula City-County Health Department
- Missoula County Community, and Planning Services
- Missoula Conservation District
- Republic Services
- Grizzly Disposal
- University of Montana
- Defenders of Wildlife
- Rattlesnake Creek Watershed Group
- Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
- Five Valleys Audubon Society
- Great Bear Foundation
Special Thanks
Missoula City-County Health Department; Missoula County Community and Planning Services, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP), the Great Bear Foundation, Republic Services, Grizzly Disposal, Melissa Booth, Jerod Merkle, University of Montana Student Wildlife Society, Bear Aware, Missoula Bears, the Rattlesnake Watershed Working Group, Friends of Grant Creek, Ninemile Wildlife Working Group, Friends of Two Rivers, Pattee Canyon Bear Aware and Missoula residents and community who helped petition for, and launch the Missoula Bear Smart effort.
Links and Ordinances
- Missoula Resolution 8629 Bear Smart Policy
- City of Missoula – Urban Wildlife
- Missoula Ordinance Number 3577: Barbed wire and electric fences
- Missoula feeding ordinance 3330
- Montana Code 87-6-216
- Missoula Solid Waste Regulation 3: Solid Waste Management
- Missoula County Voice – Bear Smart Missoula
- Missoula Property Information including Bear Buffer Zone