Harvesting the surplus fruit growing throughout Boulder to protect black bears and other sensitive wildlife.
Harvesting fruit to protect bears and people
Our colleagues at the City of Boulder and Colorado Parks & Wildlife have identified urban fruit as the second most concerning bear attractant, following unsecured trash. To help make Boulder a safe place for bears and people, Community Fruit Rescue is prioritizing harvest sites with notable bear activity. By removing attractants like ripe fruit, we can encourage bears to stay safe in their natural habitats, and out of dangerous urban areas. Here's what we're doing to protect bears and people:
- Bear Conflict Harvests: CFR will quickly harvest fruit in areas of Boulder where bears are active. These harvests will focus on removing all of the fruit in a rapid manner once the problem is brought to our organization by homeowners, or our partners at the City of Boulder, Boulder Bear Coalition, or Colorado Parks & Wildlife. Contact us if you are experiencing bear activity in/near your fruit trees so we can remove the fruit! Please note that in order to harvest any fruit trees, CFR requires that each site be registered by the tree steward, and a harvest request form must be submitted each year.
- DIY Harvest Kits: With an option to self-harvest fruit, members of the community can rent our Do-It-Yourself Kits and either keep or donate the fruit they pick. These kits will make urban fruit gleaning easier and more accessible for volunteers and renters, and allow CFR to expand its impact to more homes. Rent yours today!
- Messaging & Outreach: Comprehensive messaging about bears, attractants, and living with bears is incorporated into each CFR harvest and program. CFR Harvest Leaders are trained on these "best practices" and can provide guidance to homeowners, volunteers, and the general public.
The connection between bears & fruit
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Dating back to the 1880s, much of Boulder was developed as fruit orchards, and today many of the remaining fruit trees thrive throughout Boulder’s urban areas and wild lands. Unfortunately, many of these trees go by unnoticed; once the fruit ripens, it falls to the ground and is left to rot on neighborhood sidewalks, residential properties, public parks, and throughout the city.
Not only is this wasted fruit a mess for Boulder’s urban areas, but it is a dangerous attractant for wildlife. The ripe fruit is a favorite meal for animals such as mule deer and raccoons - common prey for mountain lions. And most notably, apples and pears are an enticing meal for black bears, especially during years where natural forage in the foothills is low. |
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The problem
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It's not uncommon to see black bears meandering through Boulder's neighborhoods and urban areas, especially later in the summer and throughout the fall. These omnivores are on a mission to consume roughly 20,000 calories per day as they prepare for winter hibernation. They're looking for the easiest meals possible - literally the lowest hanging fruit, if you will. The major attractants in Boulder tend to be unsecured trash and compost, bird feeders of all kinds, and fruit trees are a major concern. And as we all know, Boulder has a lot of fruit.
The bottom line is: urban areas are dangerous places for black bears. Bears that spend more time in human-populated regions risk being euthanized, hit by cars, or being poisoned from eating trash. There's also a public safety concern with having black bears wandering through our neighborhoods. |
What to do if you have a bear on your property
Because of Boulder's close proximity to the foothills, black bears and other wildlife will inevitably wander into our urban areas each year. While we can't keep them out of the city 100% of the time, we can discourage them from wanting to stay. And that is the goal: don't let them get too comfortable in town. How do we do this? By removing the main reason they are lured into town: food!
Follow these tips to bear-proof your home, and learn what to do if you see a bear. More tips are available through our colleagues at the City of Boulder, Colorado Parks & Wildlife and Boulder Bear Coalition.
Follow these tips to bear-proof your home, and learn what to do if you see a bear. More tips are available through our colleagues at the City of Boulder, Colorado Parks & Wildlife and Boulder Bear Coalition.
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IF YOU SEE A BEAR:
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BEAR-PROOF YOUR HOME
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Bear Coexistence Partners
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Community Fruit Rescue awarded funding by Governor Polis and Colorado Parks & Wildlife to help reduce human-bear conflicts
CFR is honored to have received two rounds of funding through Colorado Parks & Wildlife's Human-Bear Conflict Reduction Grant Program. This grant opportunity gave CFR the momentum to expand its urban harvest programming and allows us to build our Wildlife Coexistence program. Our goal is to make Boulder a safer place for bears and people, and to provide a replicable model for other communities that share spaces with black bears.
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Governor Polis announces 11 new grants from the Human-Bear Conflict Reduction Community Grant Program on 7/15/2022.
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Boulder-area efforts to prevent human-bear conflict get financial boost Daily Camera article on 7/26/2022 |
