Highlands is BearWise certified

The Town of Highlands and the BEAR task force has worked for several years to become the first BearWise Community in North Carolina.

On Tuesday, representatives from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission presented town officials and the BEAR task force with official signs and pins confirming the town’s BearWise certification.

NCWRC biologist Ashley Hobbs addressed the crowd at The Highlands Recreation Center saying this moment has been a long time coming.

“You all know how much time and effort has gone into this process,” Hobbs said. “We at the Wildlife Commission wanted to take a minute to thank you guys for being around, sticking with us and following through until the end. Being able to do this at the town level means that you were able to get a bunch of people involved. We also want to recognize that you guys didn’t just go halfway. You went all the way in. You put together ordinances, and you guys did that on your own, we didn’t have to prompt you.”

As Hobbs has said before, she reiterated that Highlands is the gold standard for coexisting with bears in the community.

“You guys took it a step further and added a wildlife feeding ordinance, which is also huge,” Hobbs said. “All of these efforts are going to pay off and we are going to see it pay off in years to come. You guys have laid the groundwork ensuring that the future of Highlands will always coexist with black bears.”

Highlands’ mayor Pat Taylor said it has been a team effort to earn this certification.

“The people at the Wildlife Commission have been a critical part of our team,” Taylor said. “Also, we have had team members within the community and town. First of all, I want to thank the Highlands Town Board of Commissioners, because they have been very responsive to the idea of coexisting with bears. Another thing they did, is put money behind the programs by buying the bear proof trash cans on Main Street. All of that took money and a lot of it. They were willing to put a handle on the situation where we had bears coming through town and every neighborhood, scattering garbage. I want to personally thank Commissioner Marc Hehn and Commissioner Dr. Amy Patterson who worked with me on a subcommittee where we worked with the BearWise people and the NCWRC on guiding the town through this process. I also want to thank the town manager, Josh Ward and all of the town’s staff who did all of the research to get the very best bear containers for the community. I want to thank Matt Schuler and his staff with the I.T. Department, because they have been working really hard on the internet and our web page to make people aware of bear interactions. I also would like to thank our police department, chief Holland and officer McCall, who is our code enforcement officer. Officer McCall has been on the front end of gently enforcing people to comply with the ordinances that we put into place.”

Taylor said one of the missing components the town had was the education and awareness being spread through the town.

“The BEAR task force is a great volunteer organization and they have partnered with the town,” Taylor said. “We are going to rely on them to educate the public about how to do the best practices when it comes to interacting with bears. This is a partnership that will be critical to us to continue to make this a viable program.”

BEAR task force director Cynthia Strain said their mission has always been to educate the community and reduce bear problems so that people could live peacefully with bears.

“We started with education and then we moved towards getting our BearSmart certification, which is a program up in Canada,” Strain said. “We were working on that when the BearWise program came into play. As soon as North Carolina started their BearWise program, we jumped on board. We were really grateful that the people at the NCWRC have been so helpful. We have been doing programs, publishing brochures, articles in the newspapers and a whole lot in the last couple of years. I could not be prouder that we have got the town and the state altogether to come to this moment where we are officially a BearWise certified community.”

- By Christopher Smith