Los Alamos County warns residents as spring bears return hungry

Hungry black bears are moving back into Los Alamos County as spring returns to the Jemez Mountains, and county officials are warning that one careless trash can, grill, or pet-food bowl can turn a neighborhood into an easy feeding ground.

The county says the biggest risk is simple: if food is easy to find, bears will find it. Unsecured garbage is the primary cause of most human-bear conflicts, and the county’s bear-safety guidance says residents should also keep pet food, bird feeders, coolers, grills, open dumpsters, garage access, and low windows from giving a bear a reason to linger.

That warning matters in Los Alamos because wildlife is already part of daily life here. County guidance lists black bears, mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats, elk, deer, raccoons, skunks, rattlesnakes and more as species that share the county’s forest edges, trail systems and residential areas. The county also notes that black bears in mountainous parts of New Mexico range from Chama to the Guadalupe and Peloncillo mountains.

The practical advice is direct. Residents are told to store trash in bear-resistant roll carts, put carts out only on the morning of pickup, clean grills after use, bring bird feeders in at night, and keep garage doors closed when possible. The county also says it is illegal to create a nuisance by feeding bears, and its handout notes that vegetative material makes up 80% to 90% of black bear diets in most places.

Los Alamos County has spent years hardening its trash system against exactly this problem. Its Operation Save the Bears project was designed to replace residential roll carts with bear-resistant models and commercial dumpsters with bear-resistant dumpsters, with project materials putting the effort at about $2.4 million in fiscal year 2022. The first deployment went to North Community 3, which had the highest concentration of reported bear incidents in Los Alamos Police Department data.

That initial rollout covered about 500 homes in North Community 3 and 260 commercial bear-resistant dumpsters around town. County planners said the larger purchase would include about 6,520 additional carts if the pilot proved successful. The current residential program allows each curbside customer up to three roll carts, and the bear-resistant trash carts come in 64-gallon and 96-gallon sizes.

County service rules are part of the prevention plan too. Carts must be set out by 8:00 a.m. on trash pickup day, not left out overnight to tempt a bear that has just come out of hibernation and is looking for the fastest meal in town.