Cohousing-L Mailing List: Bears

[Berrins (Berrins]

Sorry, I haven't checked the archives yet, I've been too busy to search, so 
please forgive me if the list has covered this topic before.

Pathways is almost fully occupied and the Common House has a foundation 
(inspection is today).  We have a space cleared for our garden but it needs a 
lot of work (stumping, leveling, removal of big lumpy objects).  However, we 
want to begin composting soon, as we are tossing out a lot of potentially 
good compost stuff.

However, the black bear (and coyote and other wildlife) populations are on 
the rise in Western Mass.  Despite being in a small city of 35,000, our local 
neighborhood has seen a lot of bear activity; bears swimming in backyard 
pools, breaking into the pantries of houses, raiding bird feeders and yes, 
compost heaps.  We need a way to have compost on site without encouraging the 
local bears to dine on it.  Does anyone have any official word or experience 
in this?  Thanks...   

Roger Berman
Pathways Cohousing
Northampton, MA