Viewpoints
Garbage & Bears
By Mike Sallee
September 06, 2007
Thursday PM
I, and at least one other rural dweller I know who lives in brown
bear country in south central Alaska rinse out food cans before
burying them or storing them in an odor reducing container. Burnable
trash is burned and compostables are well buried to keep odors
out of the air.
Prudent owners of bush cabins left unused for long periods board
up windows and keep food stored in tightly closed metal containers.
Several years ago I observed one trapper's cabin on the remote
upper Unuk that had a pile of firewood stacked to the eves in
front of the cabin's single boarded up window and door.
To live and let live requires some effort and habit changes on
our part. That task is made more difficult in urban settings,
perhaps by the pace of life and the influence of neighbors' behaviors.
One of the downsides of urban living is the impracticality of
educating all one's neighbors through personal communication.
Thus we have fines, citations and law enforcement officers.
Mike Sallee
Ketchikan, AK
Received September 06, 2007 - Published September 06, 2007
About: " Born in Ketchikan
and 50+ year resident of Gravina."
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