Advertisement.
Fort Smith municipal staff are working to activate an electric fence at the town dump by Friday after an urgent warning from territorial staff regarding bear risk.
The fence at the landfill has been an issue for years. In 2024, the NWT’s Department of Environment and Climate Change warned the broken fence had resulted in bears being killed, calling the situation “an act of negligence” and threatening action under the Wildlife Act.
The GNWT has now sent a fresh letter in which water resource officer Norman McCowan stated it is “imperative that the Town of Fort Smith immediately take steps to address this concern.”
“I cannot emphasize strongly enough the requirement for responsible waste management at the Town’s landfill facility,” McCowan wrote in the letter, dated April 24, which was published to a regulatory registry.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“Habituated bears pose a significant safety risk to both the public and Town of Fort Smith staff.”
McCowan said town acting senior administrator Cassandra Gibbons and municipal services director Andrew Grenier had committed at an April 17 meeting to activating the electric bear deterrent fence by Friday this week.
While the town did not issue a response before publication to a request for comment, the issue was discussed at a council meeting on Tuesday.
At that meeting, Grenier said crews were working to have the fence operational by Friday but conditions at the landfill had been challenging.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Grenier said about four feet of snow remained in the vicinity and heavy equipment had been deployed to clear the area.
“We’ve started working on it because we noticed early signs of bears. And then, of course, where do the bears go when there’s straight snow all over the ground and nothing to eat? To the only food,” he told councillors.
According to McCowan’s letter, the town has committed to establishing a routine maintenance log that tracks the fence’s performance, including voltage checks, debris removal, vegetation management and any necessary repairs.
He wrote that the town will also be required to maintain a daily log of wildlife sightings and any interactions, and submit both the maintenance and wildlife logs to a territorial inspector twice monthly between May 1 and October 31.
McCowan asked the town to provide written confirmation once the electric fence has been energized.
