In Nelson this past summer, it wasn’t unusual to turn a corner and chance upon a lumbering brown bear rooting in the grass, or a couple bear cubs feasting in a fruit tree.
Community members saw heightened bear activity in urban areas, raising concern about unwanted wildlife encounters. Residential fruit trees were a particular draw, offering bears an easy source of nutrients in the fall, when they’re looking to build up reserves.
In response, WildSafeBC, the City of Nelson and Wildsight teamed up to launch a pilot fruit-tree awareness week to promote the reduction of wildlife attractants throughout Nelson.
Over two weeks, members of Wildsight’s Youth Climate Corps (YCC) went door-to-door, put up posters and hosted information tables to promote free fruit-gleaning services. They also helped residents understand the importance of managing fruit trees, harvested fruit from participating properties, processed it and coordinated donations to go to local food organizations.
The last-minute collaboration meant the crew had a limited reach during this pilot year. However, they managed to glean about 30 trees on 14 different properties, collecting 105 kilograms of plums, 100 kilograms of apples, 70 kilograms of grapes and 20 kilograms of pears.
Over three days, crew members halved, froze, cooked and dehydrated piles of fruit. They processed it all into fruit leather, fruit puree, chopped apples and plums, bagged grapes and even grape jelly. These efforts diverted more fruit from landfills, while also providing locally produced, shelf-stable food for our Nelson community members.
Homeowners kept some of the pickings, while the program donated approximately 150 kilograms to five food-related organizations, including the Nelson Community Food Centre, Rosemont Elementary School, South Nelson Elementary School, the Salvation Army and Ward St. Place. The crew also got to take some fruit home to share with family and friends.
On the cleanup side, our team also collected about 90 kilograms of rotten fruit and trimmings, helping eliminate further wildlife attractants; even spoiled fruit is appealing as bears build up energy reserves for winter.
Residents were grateful for the support, emphatically thanking YCC crew members.
“The reaction by residents demonstrated that a lot of climate-related action requires not just awareness, but accessibility. Most residents knew about the risk that unpicked fruit posed to wildlife and wanted to help the problem, but many times it was not possible for them to take part due to some barrier,” says YCC crew member Reudi Kelsch. “Given the increasing attention wildlife interactions have been getting in the region, especially bears, it was fulfilling to address a direct cause of the problem by reducing attractants.”
Organizers hope to build on this year’s success with continued fruit gleaning for even more Nelson residents in future seasons.
