Next week, the Defenders of Wildlife, in partnership with the Department of Fish and Game, will host a series of workshops on bear awareness and electric fencing — in Kenai, Soldotna, Seward and Homer.
According to a flier for the event, experts will discuss how to manage bear attractants, how bear-resistant electric fencing works, and how to get financial assistance from Defenders of Wildlife to purchase and install that fencing.
Organizer Isabel Grant, with the Defenders of Wildlife, said Thursday that they were looking to educate about bear safe practices in the outdoors. Electric fencing is an upcoming technology that’s seen a lot of promise as “a very effective way to secure bear attractants and prevent bears from getting into things like your garbage, chicken coops, beehives, compost, all those kinds of things,” she said.
The Electric Fence Incentive Program, funded by the Defenders via grants, is a reimbursement program designed to make that fencing more accessible. Participants are reimbursed for 50% of their costs, to a maximum of $500.
Though a lot of focus will be on the electric fences, the outdoor safety information can serve to benefit anyone who recreates outside, such as hikers, campers, anglers and hunters, Grant said. Fences, too, can be deployed in the backcountry.
Putting on the workshops, Grant said, is part of the Defenders’ work on bear coexistence, just as they help to provide bear safe trash containers and food storage lockers. She said it ties into their overall mission to protect all native plants and animals in their natural communities.
Workshops will be held all next week. Each session will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Monday, the workshop will be at Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Kenai. On Tuesday, the workshop will be at Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna. On Wednesday, the workshop will be at Seward Community Library & Museum in Seward. On Friday, the workshop will be at the Pratt Museum in Homer.
For more information, including to get involved with the Electric Fence Incentive Program, visit defenders.org/got-bears.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
