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At a well attended Town Council meeting in March 2023, Alberton Mayor Anna LeDuc offered her thoughts on the then-new proposal from the fledgling Bear Smart Alberton Working Group to develop a plan to reduce conflicts between humans and bears around town.

, "and we're supporting it. I agree with it." 

Two years later, it's not clear whether that's true.Ìý

The working group, an unincorporated all-volunteer committee of four members, has held up its end of the bargain, following the standard Bear Smart model developed in British Columbia and increasingly adopted by towns large and small across Montana and the West, from Missoula to Virginia City. , after a . In Alberton alone in 2022, a bear broke into a child's (unoccupied) bedroom and .Ìý

The working group conducted a hazard assessment to determine how, where and why bears most often come into conflict with humans or human development in and around Alberton. It published the results. That led to step two: The group drafted a proposed management plan that outlines how the city could reduce conflict, through measures such as an ordinance that requires bear-resistant garbage cans or otherwise secure storage of refuse that often draws bears into town.Ìý

The hazard assessment and draft management plan were noticed by other communities' Bear Smart groups. Anaconda is using the Alberton documents as a template for its own effort.Ìý

"The intent was to have that be a plan for the town of Alberton," said working group member Bob Summerfield, "which requires the town of Alberton to approve it." 

Simultaneously, the group spent thousands of dollars in grant money to build two electrified enclosures around residential chicken coops that had been raided by bears. (Because the working group is unincorporated, all of its funds are held and overseen by the Heart of the Rockies Initiative.)

But progress with the Town Council and mayor has largely stalled. Summerfield said in October that the group is not ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” and does not want to be ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” at odds with the Town Council. They want to work with the council in a positive way. But so far "they haven't been on board." 

The working group sent the draft management plan to the council earlier in 2024. When Summerfield checked in a few months later to get their thoughts, the mayor and council told him they hadn't received the plan ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” except for Councilwoman Sharon Briggs, who is also member of the working group.Ìý

So the working group sent the plan again, both via email and printed copy. Other than Councilman Marvin Garding, who reached out with general questions about bears, the working group again didn't hear back about the plan.Ìý

At another Town Council meeting in which Summerfield asked about the council's thoughts on the plan, he said, "We talked some about possibly an ordinance, and they said, before we do anything, weÐÔÊӽ紫ý™d like to know what the people in the town think." 

So the working group drafted a survey on the matter that the council could distribute to gather public opinion. The survey didn't go out. The working group later distributed the survey itself. The approximately 50 responses received by October 2024 showed that about 95% of people supported having an ordinance for garbage storage aimed at reducing bear conflict.Ìý

The working group gave a summary of the results to the Town Council, he said, but "there was basically no response." 

This Tuesday, March 4, at the 7 p.m. Town Council meeting at the Alberton Community Center, the working group will again present to the council. Their plan is to summarize the Bear Smart process and draft management plan for the council, and then ask the body once again to commit to working toward approving a resolution that adopts the plan as Alberton's official Bear Smart plan. Summerfield stressed that such a resolution would not mean the plan is set in stone.Ìý

"My goal would be to leave the meeting with a concrete plan in place as to how weÐÔÊӽ紫ý™re going to wrap up the management plan and get it approved," Summerfield said. "This is not the holy Bible. This is your plan, this is the townÐÔÊӽ紫ý™s plan. And itÐÔÊӽ紫ý™s understood that this plan is going to change over time as we learn more and adapt to a changing situation.

"The resolution is designed to adopt the plan as the townÐÔÊӽ紫ý™s plan," he continued, "but it does say that it can be changed."

'They are on the record'

The working group made some headway with the Town Council at the body's November meeting. The council passed a resolution stating simply that they intend to become a Bear Smart community ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” a much more general and less binding act than, say, enacting a garbage storage ordinance or adopting the management plan. That effort took a few months.Ìý

Summerfield said in January that the resolution passing in November was "not an earth-shattering thing," but that "for the very first time, they are on the record as supporting Bear Smart." 

And although there hasn't been any progress on adopting the management plan or a garbage ordinance (the city is coincidentally in the process of revising its ordinances), Summerfield and working group member Jamie Jonkel ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” the lead bear manager for Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Region 2 ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” are quick to note that Mayor LeDuc has verbally expressed interest in pursuing the Bear Smart program in Alberton.Ìý

And, the two said in January, both LeDuc and Garding had expressed interest in beginning to attend the working group's monthly meetings, schedule permitting. Summerfield and Jonkel had lunch with LeDuc on Jan. 12, and Summerfield said, "My sense was that she supports Bear Smart for Alberton.Ìý 

"I think it was a good meeting," he said, "but like a lot of meetings, I think thereÐÔÊӽ紫ý™s a tendency that once you walk away from the table, it ends there and people donÐÔÊӽ紫ý™t do anything." 

And that doesn't mean the whole council will be on board. Other council members may have concerns over local government mandating how private individuals handle their garbage or other bear attractants on their own private property.

Contact information for LeDuc and council members was not available from the city of Alberton's website. No one answered the phone in the Alberton town office.Ìý

'Our biggest problem'

Briggs, a longtime resident and council member since 2020, and Summerfield, who has nearly lifelong ties to the community, have both said that civic engagement has waned in Alberton across a variety of topics, not just their Bear Smart effort, among both the city officials and general population.Ìý

"One of the greatest disappointments for me personally has been the difficulty in getting people in this community involved in this effort," Summerfield said. Briggs added, "Our biggest problem with Alberton is getting people involved," especially with simply attending Town Council meetings.Ìý

The working group has the same problem. At its January meeting ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” advertised with signs, flyers, emails and social media posts ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” the only attendees were the four members, a partner from nonprofit People and Carnivores, and a Missoulian reporter.Ìý

"WeÐÔÊӽ紫ý™ve made the largest effort that weÐÔÊӽ紫ý™ve made to get people to this meeting," Summerfield lamented. "As you can see, that didnÐÔÊӽ紫ý™t happen. ItÐÔÊӽ紫ý™s the same four, five, six of us sitting around the table, talking about the same things every time." 

At the February meeting on Thursday night, two new residents attended ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” a first for the working group.Ìý

The low or non-existent attendance from the public, Jonkel and Summerfield said, could be because bear conflict was down in 2023 and '24, largely due to much better availability of natural food sources than in 2022. That often leads to a loss of interest in addressing the issue until another high-conflict year.Ìý

And, they said, sometimes these things just take time. Seeley Lake is now in its fourth iteration of a Bear Smart group, still trying to work through the process. In Missoula, it took 20 years "but finally there was a crescendo," and the city and county finally adopted a management plan and enacted ordinances.Ìý

"It takes time, and each community, you know, is its own community," Jonkel said. "Alberton, I think, is moving along faster than Seeley Lake, for sure, faster than Lincoln." 

But regardless of location, any town that hopes to go Bear Smart ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” and, in fact, every town that has already ÐÔÊӽ紫ý” requires buy-in from local government and residents, something Alberton hasn't shown much of.Ìý

"Our greatest disappointment so far is just getting public engagement from the town, became we are it, and only two of us actually live in town," Summerfield said of the working group. "The response in the townÐÔÊӽ紫ý™s been pretty dismal. I think when bears are in town walking the street, tipping over garbage cans, people care. But when theyÐÔÊӽ紫ý™re not in town, they donÐÔÊӽ紫ý™t."