The province’s approach to preventing human-bear conflict is on hold, with no new applications being accepted and community reviews stalled
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With more bears crossing paths with people in B.C., wildlife advocates are concerned about the province’s much-lauded Bear Smart program. They question whether communities have the support they need to keep humans and animals safe.
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Thirteen communities have signed on to Bear Smart, a voluntary program that tackles the root causes of human-bear conflicts by managing garbage and other attractants, strengthening bylaws and educating residents.
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Since the program started in 2002, B.C. has earned a reputation as a leader in reducing human-bear conflicts and the program’s framework has been used in other parts of Canada and the U.S.
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“Bear Smart enjoys great brand appeal,” said Lesley Fox, executive director of the Fur-Bearers. But she says the program is currently in limbo after being shifted from the Environment Ministry to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, according to freedom-of-information documents obtained by the advocacy group.
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“There are no staff positions dedicated to Bear Smart, they are no longer accepting applications from municipalities, and any current initiatives to audit existing Bear Smart communities are also on hold,” Fox said. “At this point, it exists really in name only. It’s window dressing for a really big responsibility the province has seemingly brushed off.
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The FOI documents, obtained late last year, show the program has stalled, with roles left vacant and confusion over who was responsible for overseeing it.
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That uncertainty was evident in a February 2025 email from West Kootenay conservation officer Ben Beetlestone, who said he had “no idea who is running the Bear Smart portfolio at this time.” Beetlestone was trying to determine who was responsible for the program after Castlegar asked how it could renew its Bear Smart certification.
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In a separate email chain from May 2025, wildlife biologist Sean O’Donovan learned for the first time about Bear Smart being transferred to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.
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“News to me,” he said.
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But O’Donovan quickly asked about getting the program back running, writing that there was “a lot of value in the structured approach that it provided.”
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O’Donovan had been working with municipalities in the Elk Valley on the issue and said it would be “majorly disappointing” if he had to tell them the province had discontinued the program.
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Christina Vales, an administrator with WildSafeBC, a provincial program that works to prevent human-wildlife conflict, said the program “seems fairly dead in the water.”
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Logan Wenham, executive director of the Wildlife Branch at the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, said the issue required a “whole of government” response and that the ministry needed to work with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.
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There were earlier signs the program was sputtering.
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In 2022, Port Moody and North Vancouver sought to hire a third-party expert to assess their applications so they could move forward with the accreditation, according to the internal documents. The province appeared to turn them down, saying it was best provincial staff conduct the assessment. Both communities ultimately received Bear Smart status in 2024.
