Spring safety: Be aware of the bears

10th Mission Support Group / Published March 16, 2017.  

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. —

Spring starts March 20 and Black bears living on or near the Air Force Academy are leaving their hibernation and looking for food.

If the bears found food in a trash container last year near your home or office, chances are they’ll come back.

Access to food and trash makes bears comfortable around people, so close and properly latch the doors on your bear-resistant dumpster or tote-receptacles. Trash containing medicine, chemicals and plastic can kill and injure a bear.

By regulation, residents in base housing who don’t use a bear-resistant dumpster must store their trash in the garage until garbage pick-up day.

A Black bear walks through the forest on U.S. Air Force Academy property in 2009. (U.S. Air Force photo/Mike Kaplan)

For Assistance

— Call Hunt Housing, 867-9675, to report a bear-resistant dumpster in the Pine or Douglas Valley housing area needing repair

—  Call 10th Civil Engineering Squadron customer service, 333-2790, to report a bear-resistant container outside base housing needing repair

— Call the 10th Security Forces Squadron, 333-2000, to report an immediate problem involving a bear

— Call the Academy’s Natural Resources Office, 333-3308 to report a bear sighting

Visit cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/LivingwithWildlife.aspx and usafa.isportsman.net for more information