Seward Cares For Its Bears: An Origin Story
Bears know–
They know and navigate the world through an astounding sense of smell. Their olfactory detection defies what we can comprehend given our own limits of scent detection. Consider the enthusiasm of dogs when exploring the world around them through their own remarkable sense of smell. They perceive the comings and goings of life in ways we cannot even detect. Now, layer on an even more skilled scent detector and you enter into the realm of the bear.
Bears are smart, they learn, they teach and they are food motivated. In seasons or areas where food becomes limited and within proximity of humans, specifically where our unsecured food, waste or scented items become attractants, we then find ourselves in a situation that requires an extra care.
Summer 2023, Seward, Alaska
Given recent “big” winters and extended cold weather into Spring, the normal availability of forage foods for bears was limited and diminished. Seward suffered a negligible berry season, and along with other food limiting factors, the bears of the surrounding area came into town looking for food. And, they found it.
Seward experienced an extraordinary incursion of both black bears and brown bears. These bears become daily rovers of neighborhoods, apartment buildings, downtown alleys and even the waterfront taking up space along side anglers and looking for a fresh catch.
Unsecured trash, non-bear resistant trash cans and dumpsters made for easy rewards of refuse and human food by scavenging bears. Raids on unsecured dumpsters became a regular occurrence with debris strewn everywhere.
Each reward guaranteed a return.
If this wasn’t issue enough, a mother bear known as a sow, was rewarded with food waste at the local grocery store dumpster compactor, which consistently was spilling waste through its misaligned dump shoot. This was heart wrenching.
Day after day this sow and cub would go to the grocery store and navigate hundreds of tourists, locals and the adjacent highway traffic.
I could not look away.
Collectively, we, Seward, could do better. We just needed a strategy.
Over the next few weeks I worked with a dear friend, Michelle McAfee of Spark and Muse, to adapt some of my artwork and create a sticker and tag line for a collaborative that would become Seward Cares For Its Bears.
Today, this collaborative is made of members and organizations of the community all focused on elevating bear awareness and preparedness in Seward. Together, the team has created resources for recreational visitors, overnight guests and rentals, campground guidelines, and opportunities to engage in the initiative in both strategic and artistic ways. In addition, bear resistant trash carts have been made available throughout the community.
Alaska Waste, the local waste management service, donated 10 bear resistant trash cans and coordinated with the Seward Chamber of Commerce and Seward Arts Council to engage 10 local artists in custom painting bear resistant trash carts and then placed them in prominent spaces throughout the community as a means to help people become familiar with bear resistant trash carts and help increase bear awareness and proper trash disposal.
These bear resistant trash carts were featured in a First Friday show in Seward on July 5, 2024 at the Tidewater Taphouse. The show was a crowd favorite and are now utilized daily on the main downtown street of Seward.
In addition, the collaborative has provided trainings and presentations to local community organizations to help increase awareness, is seeking grants to help cover the cost of replacing or modifying current non-bear resistant trash receptacles throughout the community, and to support additional community resources and trainings that can help people become informed and prepared to live in bear country.
Since the program began, there have been no dispatches of bears within the city limits of Seward.
The Seward Care For Its Bears Collaborative has inspired other Alaskan communities to use similar strategies to address bear awareness and bear preparedness. Stay tuned to hear more about efforts in these communities as we wrap up the Fall 2026 season and share insight on efforts and outcomes.