It was another super hot day and my truck door was wide open at lunch time. It felt great to sit down, drink lots of water and scan the Globe & Mail newspaper. Then, out of the corner of my left eye I noticed a black mass moving slowly. It was maybe 15 meters away from me, if that. Shit, no way, a mature black bear! Ursus americanus.
Then the gorgeous beast stopped briefly to pick some blackberries (Rubus) and continued on into a protected wild zone. Evidently, this is the price we pay for working at a beautiful strata site which is surrounded by creeks and forests. It’s something like Whistler Village East.
Plums
The bear disappeared from sight but I could still hear it in the distance. First, it climbed a plum tree and then proceeded to eat the mature plums by breaking off tree branches. I was stunned and amused. The poor plum tree couldn’t run away.
Lesson one: Black bears are lousy arborists.
Lesson two: Trees are resilient. We know this because, according to a resident safely hidden on her first floor deck, the bear comes back every year to harvest plums from the same tree. The poor plum tree gets hammered every year and yet survives to produce more plums. That’s my kind of tree.
Landscaping in bear country
I love black bears but my one worry is surprising one as we walk through the complex. So we take obvious precautions when on site.
Since we have two crews at this large site every week, we make enough machine noise to let the beasts know we are on site. On the other hand, finesse work is fairly quiet so we make sure there are always two or more workers in one area. This is especially important along the wild site boundaries where blackberries are maturing as I compose this blog post.
Also, this may be the worst site for wearing music beads. You could die with JRFM on.
I had a chance to sample the prime blackberries today on company time because I had to assess the area for safety. It was a difficult assignment but I managed it quite well. Clearly I will have to do more clearing there next week so our mower can get by.
Landscaping in bear country is fun but always take all necessary precautions. Stay safe.
