[pct-l] Bear Safety Devices BSDs (was "Using the Ursack without thealuminum")

[Ken Powers]

I am amazed at the lack of answers you have gotten on this hot subject. I 
guess everyone is on their way to KickOff.

Google "SIBBG bear canisters". SIBBG is an inter-agency committee that sets 
requirements for food storage in the high sierra. It includes Yosemite, 
Kings Canyon, and Sequoia Nat'l Parks, Devil's Post Pile Nat'l Monument, and 
several Nat'l Forest. I think the PCT crosses all of them. There used to be 
one page that listed approved bear canisters. Now it looks like each 
jurisdiction has it own web page. The test for approval involves an 
experienced, smart black bear trying to get into canisters looking for 
approval.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/containers.htm is a webpage that lists 
approved bear canisters for Yosemite Nat'l Park. I didn't look, but I'll bet 
the other jurisdictions are the same.

Hanging of food is absolutely not effective in these areas. California bears 
long ago figured out how to defeat the hanging of food. I saw one web page 
that described several observed techniques the bears use.

Every year there is a long, heated thread on the PCT-L about required bear 
canisters. The short answer is you have a good chance of being stopped by a 
back country ranger and issued a ticket if you are not carrying an approved 
canister. If a bear gets your food you will likely get a ticket as well as 
being hungry for many trail miles.

Good Luck on your hike.

Ken
www GottaWalk com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Thyer" <matt_thyer at hotmail.com>
To: "'PCT MailingList'" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 2:46 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Bear Safety Devices BSDs (was "Using the Ursack without 
thealuminum")


I just found the following CFR (Title 36 2.10), which, while it makes
reference to a method of storing food in the backcountry, it does not create
a list of approved, commercially available storage devices.  Nor does it
compel such a list.  In fact, per the regulation, as long as your food and
garbage are "suspended at least 10 feet above the ground and 4 feet
horizontally from a post, tree trunk, or other object" while you're camping
you're good to go.



"(d) Food storage. The superintendent may designate all or a portion of a
park area where food, lawfully taken fish or wildlife, garbage, and
equipment used to cook or store food must be kept sealed in a vehicle, or in
a camping unit that is constructed of solid, non-pliable material, or
suspended at least 10 feet above the ground and 4 feet horizontally from a
post, tree trunk, or other object, or shall be stored as otherwise
designated. Violation of this restriction is prohibited. This restriction
does not apply to food that is being transported, consumed, or prepared for
consumption."



(http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr
<http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=e3de3382e8d7bf30cb
ce7d69346d65d7&rgn=div8&view=text&node=36:1.0.1.1.2.0.1.6&idno=36>
&sid=e3de3382e8d7bf30cbce7d69346d65d7&rgn=div8&view=text&node=36:1.0.1.1.2.0
.1.6&idno=36)



Any exceptions to the above for specific areas such as Yosemite should be
called out in Title 36 7.x, but I find no mention of containers or bears in
this part of the CRF.  I'm actually starting to wonder what's happened, at
least within the NPS, that they've decided to endorse one set of products
over another.  Perhaps I'm missing something in the CFR, but I don't see a
legal requirement for these lists nor is there a compelling jurisdictional
case made to limit food containers.



Maybe later I'll start looking for a compelling CFR that the NF might use to
justify a list?  Not a lawyer (engineer actually who worked many years as a
backcountry guard), but from what I can tell from the regulation, those
"approved containers" lists are not legally enforceable.



2 cents .



Matt

http://bigear.wordpress.com/

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