This month the Kodiak Island Borough landfill has seen an uptick in bear activity, which has drawn in more human traffic as well. The issue is creating a safety hazard for tourists, borough employees and even the bears themselves.
During a Borough Assembly meeting on Aug. 7, Nate Svoboda, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Kodiak, told the assembly about what has become an evening ritual: Kodiak brown bears and onlookers gathering at the landfill.
“As some of you may know, the landfill recently became the go to place on Kodiak Island to watch and photograph bears," he said to the Borough Assembly.
Roughly eight to 13 different bears are believed to be accessing trash at the dump north of the city in the Monashka area at any given time, according to Svoboda. He said that also includes a sow and cubs that the department believes denned over-winter inside the landfill fenced area this past winter. That’s despite the area being very close to abundant natural food sources like salmon in Pillar Creek and berries in the nearby forests.
Bears have been getting through gaps in the landfill’s fence, which has sections that are electric. And Svoboda said it’s been an issue for more than just this year.
“Unfortunately, these bears and their young are now conditioned in non-natural foods. I use that loosely; trash," he explained. "And it’s unlikely they will change their foraging habits after having access to non-natural foods for so long.”
Svoboda said when bears become reliant on eating trash instead of their natural diets like fish or berries, then that can lead to intestinal blockages or other health complications and result in death. Alaska State Troopers euthanized one bear last week after it had been habitually eating food from people’s trash cans and was too comfortable around humans.
But the Kodiak Island Borough has more concerns beyond just the bears’ health. Engineering and Facilities Director Codi Allen said they also have to protect their employees.
“So at some point, if they don’t leave, we’re going to have to get like the troopers involved and make sure people are safe," Allen said. "Because if they’re coming up and not moving for a machine that’s operating right beside them, or they’re waiting outside of your car when you pull in at 7 in the morning, the staff aren’t really having a safe work environment.”
He said that borough staff have brought up numerous concerns about the bears but so far no injuries or incidents have occurred related to bears at the landfill. Allen said if the bears don’t leave they may have to get the Alaska State Troopers involved.
Two miles of chain link fence circles the perimeter of the Borough landfill. As of late last week, that perimeter included an intact electric fence, rock piles and metal bracing reinforcing the fencing in various places. Allen said they’ve been making repairs where the bears have gotten through, added grounded hotwire strands and cleared brush around the fence line to deter bears all since November of last year.
But none of it has stopped the powerful, roughly 1,000 pound animals from frequently entering the landfill.
“I’ve seen bears come through the fence. They walk or run and they’ll just go right through a fence," Allen said. "They’ve pushed down the chain link fence. They’ve pushed open gates. It’s quite the challenge to get them to stay out.”
The electric fence’s voltage averaged 5-6 kilovolts or 5,000 to 6,000 volts. According to guidance Allen received from ADF&G, it’s recommended to be 8 to 10 kilovolts to effectively deter bears. So he said the Kodiak Island Borough has ordered a new energizer which will provide the higher voltage needed.
Allen isn’t sure how much the borough has spent on bear protection so far, but he guesses it’s easily thousands of dollars. He said there will continue to be regular maintenance costs because there’s really no way to make the landfill 100% bear proof.
“I don’t foresee it being a one and done kind of thing," Allen explained. "This is definitely an ongoing, it’s something that we’re going to have to budget for."
So Allen said the best solution, other than killing the bears, would be for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to remove the bears from the landfill before they go into hibernation. Then borough staff can reinforce the landfill fence and electrify the perimeter with a higher voltage to prevent bear access in the future.
The department and the borough will continue to have periodic inspections of the fence and discussions about next steps for removing the bears. Allen said in early September they will explore the possibility of constructing a secondary perimeter fence inside the landfill around the main trash cell area.
In the meantime, people and bears will likely continue to descend on the landfill in the last of the summer nights around sundown.
