*** SENT ON BEHALF OF THE 10TH MISSION SUPPORT COMMANDER ***

Subject: Bears Emerging From Hibernation

Black bears are coming out of hibernation and looking for food.  If bears accessed food in the trash containers near your home or office last year, it's probably the first place they will return to this spring.  To keep them away, ensure the doors on your bear-proof dumpster or toter receptacle are closed and properly latched.  Medicines, chemicals, and other items typically found in household trash can kill or injure a bear, and access to the food items will habituate bears to being around people.

To report a bear-proof trash receptacle requiring repair in the Pine Valley or Douglass Valley housing areas, please call Forest City maintenance at 867-9675.  For all other non-housing bear-proof containers requiring repair, call 10 CES Contract Services at 333-3053.  Housing residents who do not have a bear-proof trash receptacle are required to secure their trash in a garage until the scheduled trash collection day.

If you have an immediate bear problem, call the Security Forces Law Enforcement Desk at 333-2000.  To report bear sightings, please call Natural Resources at 333-3308 or e-mail 10 CES/CECN (Bear Watch).

Excellent information on bears is available on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website at:

http://wildlife.state.co.us/WildlifeSpecies/LivingWithWildlife

/Mammals/Pages/LivingWithBearsL1.aspx

Forest City offers military families housing options and community programs that will set the standard for those to come. Our dedicated teams of management, administrative, relocation and maintenance professionals are committed to providing you with military family housing that you will be proud to call home.