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. Learn more about attractants.
To apply the concepts of the Bear Smart Community Program to the Missoula area, a group of concerned citizens, bear biologists, agency bear managers, a Republic Services employee, 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.
- James Jonkel and Eli Hampson — Bear Management Team, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department (MFWP)
- Erin Edge — Senior Representative Rockies and Plains Program, Defenders of Wildlife
- Chris Servheen — North American Bears Expert Team and Montana Wildlife Federation
- Chad Bauer — Republic Services
- Elissa Chott and Heather Leach — Great Bear Foundation
- Nancy Heil and Beth Judy — Rattlesnake Creek Watershed Group
- Bert Lindler — North Hills Elk, Bear, and Weed Volunteer
- Ginny Merriam — Communication Director, City of Missoula
- Shannon Therriault — Environmental Health Director, Missoula City-County Health Department
- Radley Watkins — Resource Conservationist, Missoula Conservation District
- Kali Becher — Open Lands Manager, Missoula County Community, and Planning Services
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 Property Information including Bear Buffer Zone
- To see if your property is in the bear buffer zone on the property info site: Click link above->Click Black and White World Icon on Top Left -> Expand Districts/Boundaries -> then choose Bear Buffer Zone
