Caution advised as hungry bears look for buffaloberries in Bow Valley

Bear in mind that berry season has begun, experts say.

As buffaloberries ripen throughout the Bow Valley, visitors to popular areas in the mountains are being advised to watch out for bears.

Buffaloberries, which are critical to a bear's diet in the Rocky Mountains, grow throughout Banff National Park and Kananaskis — including near trails, campsites and other areas frequented by people.

"We've already started to see some ripening berries, and that's an extremely important food source for our local bears," Parks Canada resource management officer Dan Rafla told CBC News.

"It's probably one of the most, if not the most, important sources of food for both grizzly bears and black bears in this area."

He said bears will be "highly focused" on eating the tiny berries, which are high in sugar and nutrition.

Now that both bear species' mating seasons have largely ended, their priorities shift to eating as they prepare for hibernation. Even though it's months away, because bears spend around half the year dormant, it helps to get an early start on bulking up for the winter.

"Bears are somewhat in a race to put on enough fat and reserves to survive the winter," Rafla said.

"They'll get more intense as the season gets on to the point where they're feeding 20 hours a day."

Other naturally-occurring options for Bow Valley and Banff National Park bears in the summer include chokecherries and huckleberries, but they don't compare to the abundance of buffaloberries. The Rockies "aren't the most productive landscape for bears" in terms of food availability, Rafla said.

But the area looks like it has a good crop of buffaloberries this year, Rafla said. Buffaloberries have been seen a little early this year, likely due to warm temperatures in the valley bottom. That's good news after recent years saw poor berry growth in the Rockies, which can cause problems.

"Sometimes we'll see a little bit more conflict and maybe desperation from a bear to seek out those food sources," he said.

Seasonal trail restrictions in parts of Banff National Park are designed to minimize human-bear interactions during berry season, particularly in areas grizzly bears are known to frequent.

Those restrictions, which include requiring hikers to remain close together in groups of at least four adults, in addition to requiring bear spray and not permitting dogs, apply to Allenby Pass and part of the Lake Minnewanka area.