Just in time for the new bear season, Revelstoke Bear Aware has a whole new look to its website (www.revelstokebearaware.org).
“The new site will be easier to navigate, have lots of fun new resources, and still be the same fantastic source of good, local information about how to reduce conflict with bears Bear Aware Coordinator Sue Davies said in a statement released on Friday, June 6.
“We have made it easier to do what it is you want to do when visiting the site. If you want to report a sighting, click the button for ‘Report’; if you want to be more bear aware, click that button. And of course if you want to donate or volunteer we have buttons for those too! We have put our main message front and centre too; the front page now has 4 check-marked items regarding the most common bear attractants, make sure that you can check these off at your home too.”
The new Resources section has everything from colouring pages and crosswords for the kids, to instructions for building an electric fence to protect your chickens. These resources are available to download and use for free — a great recourse for those wanting to be more bear aware, she said.
The interactive map of local bear sightings is still on the site and gives a good indication of what bear activity there has been in and around town. You can look either at historical data stretching back to 2009, or just at the most recent sightings. The map is updated as new sightings are reported, so if you see a bear, be sure to report it.
The number to call to report a sighting is 1-877-952-RAPP (7277). This number gets you through to the provincial call centre and the information then comes through to Revelstoke Bear Aware and the Conservation Officer Service.
Revelstoke lost its Conservation Officer last December when the position was transferred to Golden.
“The more calls to the RAPP line, the more likely we are to get a Conservation Officer back in Revelstoke,” she said.
Bear Aware is a non-profit organization and gets it’s funding from various sources. The cost of the new website is not insignificant and Bear Aware has been fortunate to have Ryan Anderson of Perimeter Design donate time and expertise to recreating the website. Ben Dorsey of Parks Canada has also donated time and effort to the system that runs the bear sightings map, and CBT Community Initiatives, BC Hydro, Revelstoke Credit Union, Revelstoke Community Foundation, and Lush Cosmetics have contributed financially to the program this year. It would not have been possible to upgrade the site so quickly and effortlessly without the dedicated volunteer effort from Jackie Morris who transferred all the content of the pages and organized the rebuild.
For more information on managing bear attractants please visit www.revelstokebearaware.org or call Sue Davies on 250 837 8624.
To report bear sightings or conflicts with bears please call the 24 hour hotline at 1-877-952-RAPP (7277).
