TWIN BUTTE, Alta. — Grizzly bears started nudging Mac Main’s new feedyard fence only days after it was installed.
The southwestern Alberta rancher knows this because their visits were recorded on motion-sensitive cameras.
The cameras also recorded visits from cougar, elk and deer. None of them gained entry to his feedyard, but some of them were shocked by the electrical current running through the fence, powered by solar energy.
Main’s enclosure, which he has dubbed Jurassic Park, is one of the successful projects undertaken by the Drywood Yarrow Conservation Partnership and the agencies with which it works.
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Jeff Porter, southwest conservation co-ordinator for the municipal districts of Ranchlands, Pincher Creek and Willow Creek, told a June 21 tour group that this particular fencing project is a success.
The tall fence, complete with a specialized cable and outrigger system, is imposing but necessary.
“Until we got this fence put up and we established these motion sensor cameras here, we had no idea what we were dealing with on this site, the pressure,” said Porter.
But Main knew.
Before the fence went up, bears tore off bin doors and pounded the side of a metal bin until the rivets popped and grain trickled out. Moisture inside the bin forced him to replace the bottom quarter panels and install a concrete base to prevent bears from digging underneath. The activity attracted attention.
“Five of them came in here right away. They ate all my pellets that I had in bulk bags while I was waiting for the concrete to dry,” said Main.
He could leave the bins empty when grizzly bears are active, but the southern Alberta climate plays a role.
“The biggest problem here is with the wind. You’ve got to have your grain bin with quite a bit of grain in it to keep it from blowing away, and the bears know that.”
The fence cost $5,000 to build: $3,500 for materials and the rest for labour. Porter admits the price tag is high but the cost of Main’s lost feed over the years would be much higher.
Grass has to be trimmed around the fence at least annually to maintain the current. Electricity to the bottom wire can be shut off when the snow gets deep.
Grizzly bears aren’t a problem in the winter, but the fence also protects feed from hungry elk.
Senior wildlife biologist Greg Hale said projects like Main’s are key to reducing incidents with “bad” bears, which have to be relocated after causing repeated damage.
“The bear behaviour that we want are bears that can occupy this landscape without killing cows all the time, without getting into granaries, without coming into people’s ranch yards.”
Fish and Wildlife has relocated several bears from the area to Nordegg and Grande Prairie, but research has shown those animals have a higher mortality in their new location.
The practice was also recently criticized by the Alberta Wilderness Association, which said bear relocation is “a disturbing trend that is harmful to the province’s threatened grizzlies.”
Nine bears were relocated from this region last year at an estimated cost of $40,000 per bear.
“We’ve got to come up with some better solutions, and economic ones, not just for the producer dealing with it, but officer time,” said Hale.
“Some of these guys are run off their feet dealing with some of these conflicts.”
