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bear task force

Simple solution to bears The Black Bear Task Team has decided to use a simple "bear repellent" this spring at the landfill site. "It's a bag of mothballs hung in the area at three-foot intervals," explains Sylvia Dolson, co-chair of the task team.

Simple solution to bears The Black Bear Task Team has decided to use a simple "bear repellent" this spring at the landfill site. "It's a bag of mothballs hung in the area at three-foot intervals," explains Sylvia Dolson, co-chair of the task team. Problem commercial garbage bins will also get "mothballed." "It's a simple idea, but sometimes simple ideas work best," Dolson says. The group also forwarded ideas on bear-proofing the landfill to municipal manager of environment services Brian Barnett. The group recommends fencing the entire area similar to the current fence design, exchanging the swinging gate with an automatic sliding one and putting in-ground concrete or fence barriers under above-ground fencing to prevent bears digging under the perimeter fencing. Trees will be removed from inside and outside the immediate fenced area to take away hidey holes that bears like to lurk in before making a run for garbage. The hibernating bears are due back sometime in March. One bear weighing as much as 600 pounds has yet to hibernate and is still at large. It has been sleeping for a few days at a stretch in a day bed of ground cover deep in the forest, but has been making visits to the landfill.