Bear-Resistant Products Testing Program
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Testing and evaluation of bear-resistant products is an important activity and one that LWWF spends the majority of its time on - especially with the recent proliferation of new "bear-resistant" products onto the market. The LWWF product testing program helps to screen out obviously ineffective product designs before they are aggressively marketed by manufacturers. This helps prevent wild bears from becoming food conditioned by keeping them from getting food rewards from ineffective containers.
Product testing also helps to prevent money from being wasted on purchases of products that do not work. Bear-resistant products are often an effective solution to bear conflicts but they tend to cost more than traditional storage containers. Therefore, if people spend the extra money to purchase something that they believe will deter bears and it doesn't work, it often leaves a bad taste in the purchaser's mouth and makes it much more difficult to for them to consider buying something else in the future.
In 1989 the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) endorsed a testing program which involves a visual inspection and an impact test of bear-resistant containers. The program focuses on food storage containers and outfitter panniers to be used on public lands. Information on the program is available on the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee web site.
Under that program there aren't any guidelines or standards for testing of products that will be used primarily on private property. More specifically, the program did not test the effectiveness of bear-resistant garbage storage containers, dumpsters, or front-country feed storage containers for ranches and residences.
The Living with Wildlife Foundation worked with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP), the US Forest Service (USFS), and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) to incorporate a formal protocol for testing of these products. In December of 2003, the program was officially launched by LWWF.
The revised testing protocol utilizes captive grizzly bears at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center (GWDC) in West Yellowstone, Montana, and tests commercial and residential food and refuse storage containers or other products that will be used on private lands. Testing of products for use on private lands falls under "Part II" of the revised IGBC testing protocol. To view the actual testing protocol, click here: Protocol
About seventy products have now been tested through the LWWF Bear-Resistant Products Testing Program. Products that have passed are posted on this web site and are being noted in updates to the Living with Predators Resource Guides.
LWWF also works with manufacturers and vendors of bear-resistant products to develop new and improved products and techniques for minimizing conflicts with bears and other predators.
For information on products that have passed testing, click here.
Testing of Recreational Products or Products to be Used on Public Lands
Grizzly Bear Occupied Areas
Products that will be used on public lands and that must meet food storage regulations in grizzly bear occupied areas in the United States (Lower 48 States) are being tested by the U.S. Forest Service. For more information on the testing of backpacking containers and outfitter panniers, please contact:
- Jim Claar of the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula, Montana at 406-329-3664 (jclaar@fs.fed.us)
- Kim Barber in Wyoming at 307-578-1235 (kbarber@fs.fed.us)
Black Bear Occupied Areas
Vendors and manufacturers interested in getting their products approved for use on public lands in California should contact one of the members of the Sierra Interagency Black Bear Group listed below.
Mazur, Rachel Rachel_Mazur@nps.gov
Reid, Calder cmreid@fs.fed.us
Seher, Victoria Victoria_Seher@nps.gov
Werner, Harold Harold_Werner@nps.gov