Beware of Bears
As fruit is ripening on trees and blackberries are just about ready to be picked, people and bears are competing for the harvesting bounty.
BC Conservation Officer Gerry Lister is run off his feet answering public concerns about bears in Powell River neighbourhoods.
A sow and two cubs have become regular wanderers along streets in, what Lister calls, the Mowat Bay bowl. He describes the area as Mowat Bay and Waddington avenues, Coburn, Irvine and Robson streets in Cranberry.
Residents are asked to be vigilant of the four-legged visitors who, at this point, are just interested in eating food. However, what counts as food could relate to what people have in their backyards. The bears will pass through the area anyway, because it is a route through from forest to forest. However, they will linger if they find food that is not natural to their diet such as garbage, pet food, bird food, dirty barbecues or inefficient composts.
Anything residents can do to ensure their yards are free of bear attractants will help these bears maintain some knowledge of foraging for wild food. Lister suggests trying to make the bears feel unwelcome, by reducing the amount of fruit available and literally giving them a really bad restaurant experience.
Residents coming into contact with the sow and two cubs could find themselves between the family members. Usually, mother bears will become aggressive when protecting their offspring.
Of most concern to Lister is young children walking down to Mowat Bay. The popular swimming destination is in the heart of bear country. Anyone in that area should be very vigilant and be careful with any food brought into the park.
In Westview, three bears are wandering around the Joyce Avenue, Burnaby Street area. Over the past few years, the area has had bears living in the treed lot beside the RCMP building. With recent development in the area, the bears are now without that habitat.
To report a bear encounter, readers can call 1.877.952.7277. For more information on conflict prevention and removal of bear attractants, readers can visit Bear Aware BC.
Campfire ban
All campfires in the Coastal Fire Centre region, including the area around Powell River, have now been banned by the provincial Wildfire Management Branch.
The ban comes at a time when forests are tinder-dry after a month without significant rainfall.
“With the current trend of warm and dry weather, wildfires in the region have displayed aggressive behaviour and required additional fire suppression resources,” wrote fire centre spokesperson Donna MacPherson in a media release Wednesday, July 31 announcing the fire ban.
The fire centre anticipates that the thunderstorms predicted by Environment Canada next week will likely produce more fires for crews to battle.
“Human-caused wildfires divert critical resources and crews from responding to naturally occurring wildfires,” she noted.
The ministry of forests, lands and natural resource operations have raised the area’s fire risk level to “extreme.”
The region-wide campfire ban applies to all areas within the coastal fire area except for the Fog Zone on north western Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.
The open burning prohibition covers all BC Parks, Crown and private lands. Within the City of Powell River the ban is in effect at Willingdon Beach and in Powell River Regional District it will extend to the campgrounds at Shelter Point on Texada Island and Haywire Bay.
The ban applies to open fires of any size, fires with a burn registration, industrial burning, fireworks, backyard tiki torches, sky lanterns and burning barrels.
The prohibition does not apply to cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes, or to portable campfire apparatus with a CSA or ULC rating that uses briquettes, liquid or gaseous fuel, as long as the height of the flames is less than 15 centimetres.
Anyone found in violation of an open fire ban, including campfires, may be issued at ticket for up to $345. Anyone who causes a wildfire through arson or recklessness may be fined up to $1 million, spend up to three years in prison and be held accountable for the costs of fighting the wildfire.
The ban will stay in place until October 15 or until further notice.
Readers can check BC Wildfire for more information about the current conditions, wildfire activity, road closures and air quality advisories.
Weather news
July in Powell River may not have set heat records, but it has been one of the sunniest, driest months on the books.
John Ede, weather observer at Powell River airport, said during the month of July he recorded only two days with precipitation. On July 17 a trace of rain was recorded at the airport and then the thunderstorm just before midnight Wednesday, July 31, brought one millimetre of rain. The monthly average for July is 40.2 millimetres.
Sunshine was in great supply. “The monthly average of recorded hours of sunshine is 280, but we got 428,” said Ede.
Temperature-wise, July was also slightly warmer than usual. The average temperature for the month is usually 17° Celsius and Ede recorded last month’s average at 18.1°. Maximum mean temperature was recorded at 24.4°, up from previous maximum of 22.1°.
The warmest temperature recorded was on Canada Day when the mercury reached 30.7°. July’s minimum mean temperature was recorded at 11.9°.
