Urban Wildlife

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Bears are ever-present in our community. In 2014 the city adopted an ordinance requiring bear-resistant trash bins west of Broadway. The ordinance has reduced the amount of waste accessible to bears. This reduction was quantified along a 612 house monitoring route west of Broadway where the average number of trash carts strewn was 129 prior to the ordinance (2012 - 2013) and 16 after ordinance adoption (2014 - 2017).

While the ordinance has helped, increasingly there are bear sighting east of Broadway. The city would like to explore how it can help residents prevent bears from accessing trash in their neighborhoods. Answers to the questions below will help the city evaluate ways to improve trash storage practices in areas of the city where we have increase bear sightings. We welcome your input!


Bears are ever-present in our community. In 2014 the city adopted an ordinance requiring bear-resistant trash bins west of Broadway. The ordinance has reduced the amount of waste accessible to bears. This reduction was quantified along a 612 house monitoring route west of Broadway where the average number of trash carts strewn was 129 prior to the ordinance (2012 - 2013) and 16 after ordinance adoption (2014 - 2017).

While the ordinance has helped, increasingly there are bear sighting east of Broadway. The city would like to explore how it can help residents prevent bears from accessing trash in their neighborhoods. Answers to the questions below will help the city evaluate ways to improve trash storage practices in areas of the city where we have increase bear sightings. We welcome your input!


  • The City of Boulder is working to better understand how our community is co-existing with bears. Please answer the following questions to help city staff learn how we can better support you and our wildlife. 

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Page last updated: 01 Oct 2018, 07:54 AM