By LYNN HANRAHAN
Los Alamos

If you want our town to be ecologically sound, we have to step up. Support the adoption of bear-proof dumpsters even if they are sometimes imperfect. If at all possible, secure smelly garbage until trash day. Not everyone has a garage, of course, but where there’s a will there’s a way. Hose out your garbage cart and your recycling cart, too.

A little blonde bear has been making the rounds in our neighborhood lately. I am very careful to keep the garbage cart pristine, but I noticed he really liked the gallon vinegar bottles in the blue cart. I do the standard recipe of a gallon of vinegar, a cup of salt and a tablespoon of dish soap to control Siberian Elm growth. When I set them out in front of the door last Friday, the bear stole all the caps.

Hoping to bear-proof our yard as much as possible, I think I’ll dig out the elms for the time being and skip the smelly vinegar. The bear also seems to like the smell of the fish emulsion fertilizer, which is popular among serious gardeners. I’ll be skipping that for a while as well.

Keeping bears out of the neighborhoods keeps everyone safe. Little kids can run around and play, and the bears don’t develop the bad habits, which might get them relocated or worse. I don’t feed the birds’ birdseed in the summer. Hummingbird feeders attract bears. I did, however, until last week, keep a big old thick multi-gallon glass jug with a tight lid on the deck, which holds birdseed in the winter. It had a few crumbs leftover. The bear was attracted by the odor and smashed the jar to bits.

You can never be too careful about odors if you want to keep bears and mountain lions safe and out of neighborhoods. Don’t feed your pets outside. Keep your cats inside period. Predators love to eat cats and raccoons. If you feed the deer you are attracting what preys on them. Backyard chickens and ducks must be carefully guarded.

Los Alamos County is a beautiful, wild place. Let’s keep it that way.