the campground's getting bear-proofed

Chilkoot Lake, a popular fishing, camping, and brown bear viewing spot just outside Haines, Alaska, has had only one bear-resistant food storage container for its 32-site campground. Later this month the campground will receive two additional lockers, donated by the national nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife, giving campers a secure place to store food, toiletries, and anything else with a strong scent.

For visitors, the change means fewer campers competing for a single storage box in a place where brown bears regularly work the river. A coexistence representative with Defenders of Wildlife says both tent campers and car campers should use the new lockers.

Keeping food locked away matters because bears that find easy meals near tents tend to keep coming back, an outcome that rarely ends well for either the bears or the people camping nearby. Buying the two containers and shipping them to Haines cost more than five thousand dollars.

Defenders of Wildlife also sent two more lockers to Eagle Beach near Juneau. The Chilkoot Lake campground itself is expected to open later this summer once State Parks hires additional staff.