Abstract 306 – Bears, watch your step: a study of fine-scale individual bear movement through an urban landscape in Colorado.

Cassandre Venumière-Lefebvre, Heather Johnson, Mat Alldredge, Stewart Breck,
Kevin Crooks

For wildlife, developed areas can bring access to novel sources of food and increased mortality
risk. For American black bears, anthropogenic refuse in urban areas alters activity patterns and
time budgets and leads to increased rates of human-bear conflict. Reducing anthropomorphic
food sources reduces conflict, but it is unclear how this type of management strategy influences
bear ecology (e.g., their movement patterns). Colorado Parks and Wildlife, US Department of
Agriculture, the City of Durango, and Colorado State University collaborated on a large-scale
experiment that tested the effectiveness of wildlife-resistant garbage containers to reduce
human-bear conflict in Durango, Colorado. In 2010, an ordinance required residents to secure
attractants. In 2013, wildlife-resistant containers were distributed in two treatment areas, while
residents of two control areas continued to use mostly regular containers. Between 2011 and
2016, bears were captured around the city and fitted with GPS collars. The quantity of natural
foods available annually and the consistency of residents in properly locking their containers
were also monitored. We applied an integrated step-selection analysis to bear movements
through the area to investigate the efficacy of bear-resistant containers in modifying bear
behavior. Specifically, we examined the effect of treatment, resident compliance, and natural
food availability on bear resource selection and speed when moving through the urban
landscape. Our results inform whether bear-resistant containers can change how bears move
and use the landscape, and whether this strategy can be used to promote human-carnivore
coexistence.