In light of another bear sighting in Sterling Ranch, we want to continue to send reminders to the community on the importance of being bear-aware. Get in the habit of being bear-responsible. Most conflicts between people and bears can be traced to easy-to-get-at human food, garbage, pet food, bird seed, or other attractants. When people allow bears to find food, a bear’s natural drive to eat can overcome its wariness toward humans.

Don’t feed bears, and don’t put out food for other wildlife that attracts bears. 

Be responsible with your trash and bird feeders. 

Burn food off barbeque grills and clean after each use.

Keep all bear-accessible windows and doors closed and locked, including home, garage, and vehicle doors.

Don’t leave food, trash, coolers, air fresheners, or anything that smells in your vehicle.

Talk to your neighbors about doing their part to be bear responsible.

For more information on Living with Bears click here.

Much of what people throw away smells like food to a hungry bear. Standard metal or plastic trash cans won’t keep out bears. Once bears learn where it’s easy to get at the garbage, they’ll come back again and again.

Never leave trash or recyclables out overnight. Empty cans and boxes still smell like food. One study showed that simply putting trash out only on the morning of pick up cuts the chances of a bear visit from 70% to 2%.

If you must leave trash outside, buy a bear-proof container, build a bear-proof enclosure or install an electric fence. To avoid attracting bears, clean con­tainers regularly with ammonia or bleach.

If you see wildlife like bears endangering public safety in a residential area or on your property, call Colorado Parks and Wildlife at 303.660.7500 or 911.

If a bear comes near your home, do your best to chase it away. Yell, blow a whistle, clap your hands, and make other loud noises from a safe place inside your home. But never approach a bear. Watch Colorado Parks and Wildlife video on "What to Do if You See a Bear" below.

Visit cpw.state.co.us/bears for more information. You’ll find fact sheets, a homeowner’s checklist, information on safe camping and hiking, and much more.

The following is from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Human-Bear Conflicts Report. To read the full report click here.

Translocation and lethal removal are management tools commonly used by wildlife agencies to reduce human-bear conflicts.

While bear translocations are fairly common, research shows that they are not always successful in reducing the nuisance behavior of the targeted bear or keeping them away from the site of their original capture. Translocation reduces bear survival and is often associated with the return of individuals to their capture sites (33% of adults returned to the site of capture while 0% of subadults returned).

Colorado’s data suggests that translocation success for bears not known to be involved with repeated human-bear conflicts is 64% for adults and 58% for subadults; translocation success for bears with a history of conflicts is significantly lower.

The process of trapping, tagging, and moving bears to suitable bear habitat, typically 50 to 100 miles from where captured. Often limited by dwindling, available habitat or other factors.

Researchers recently used statewide data from Wisconsin to assess whether the action of translocating a bear was associated with reduced rates of future conflict in the vicinity of the capture location. They found that the number of bears translocated from a site did not decrease the risk of future conflict in the area or the number of conflict complaints. This pattern was attributed to the fact that while the nuisance behavior of one bear was eliminated by translocation, the capture site (the source/attractant) often continued to contribute to nuisance behavior by other bears.

While research on the effectiveness of translocation has been inconsistent, investigators have found that certain factors can limit success. In a state like Colorado, it is often difficult to find release locations that are far from the capture site, are high-quality bear habitats and are far enough from human development or other human attractants.

When a bear poses a risk to human health and safety or is known to have caused previous conflict activity, it is often euthanized in accordance with CPW directives. Euthanasia is often used to remove bears that have caused bodily harm to people, livestock, broken into homes or structures, exhibited repeated aggressive behavior or exhibited aggressive behavior one time and it is deemed necessary to euthanize by a wildlife officer.

Euthanasia eliminates future problems from a specific animal but does not resolve issues (such as food attractants) that may have been responsible for exacerbating undesirable bear behavior and activity.

Trapping bears for either translocation or euthanasia is costly and labor intensive, requiring extensive time and resources from CPW and partnering agencies.

Community Standards Committee Meeting - CANCELLED Tuesday, August 2, 5:00 PM.

Resident Advisory Committee Meeting - Wednesday, August 3, 5:00 PM. This meeting is held in person at the Overlook Clubhouse.

Design Review Committee Meetings - Thursday, August 4 & 18, 9:00 AM. These meetings are held in person at the Overlook Clubhouse.

Construction Committee Meeting - Wednesday, August 10, 10:00 AM. This meeting is held virtually.

Finance Committee Meeting - Thursday, August 11, 10:00 AM. This meeting is held virtually.

SRMD No. 3 Meeting - Thursday, August 11, 4:00 PM. This meeting is held in person at the Resident Resource Center.

Design Advisory Committee Meeting - Thursday, August 11 & 25, 5:00 PM. This meeting is held in person at the Overlook Clubhouse.

SRMD No. 1, 4-7 Meeting - Friday, August 26, 11:30 PM. This meeting is held in person at the Overlook Clubhouse.

CAB Board of Directors Meeting - Friday, August 26, 1:00 PM. This meeting is held in person at the Overlook Clubhouse.

Save the Date for the first 5K/1K run in Sterling Ranch!

Douglas County Fairgrounds

July 20 - August 7

August 12 -21

August 2022

Fête des Fleurs

August 26

August 26 - September 5