Bears still reaching Kodiak landfill weeks after state approved bear plan

Bears are still getting into the Kodiak Island Borough landfill weeks after the state approved a plan meant to keep them out. Borough staff attribute the continued presence to "a constant attractant" at the site.

The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly will discuss the problem at a work session Thursday, Aug. 13, at 6:30 p.m. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game have been invited to take part. Work sessions take no formal action.

ADEC's 2025 inspection of the Class I landfill at 1203 Monashka Bay Road found the borough out of compliance with 18 AAC 60.230(a)(2), which requires that bears be kept out of a landfill. The borough repaired and reinforced the electric bear fence in 2025, then worked with ADEC on a Bear Management Plan. The state approved that plan July 15. Borough Manager Aimee Williams wrote in her report to the Assembly that the plan's requirements are being met, but "there continues to be a bear presence at the landfill due to the presence of a constant attractant."

The management plan identifies organic and food related waste as the highest risk attractant. That includes seasonally elevated volumes of fish waste and game related organic material. The plan makes that waste stream the primary focus of monitoring and management controls.

The attractant is not new. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Kodiak Archipelago bear plan documents the borough's long running effort to keep bears out of the landfill. It counted about six bears using the site in a typical year, ranging from four to 11 depending on the year.

ADEC approved the plan with conditions. "To reach the goal of no bears in the landfill, timely and effective corrective action must be taken in addition to documenting bear sightings and activity," Environmental Program Specialist III Annemieke Powers wrote. Powers also asked the borough to remove bear habitat from inside the fenced area "as much as is feasible" and to notify Fish and Game each time a bear is seen. The plan sets a compliance checkpoint: the borough must give ADEC an annual summary of bear management data by Dec. 15 of each year.

The Assembly's Aug. 20 regular meeting agenda includes a contract to install an interior electric fence around the active municipal solid waste cell and a planned second cell.