Bear with Me: The Origins of the Bear Canister
1977 was the year the first Star Wars movie was released, Voyager 2 was launched, Elvis died, I was born(!), and a researcher named Barrie (unfortunate homonym) Gilbert doing field work in Yellowstone was mauled by a bear. After he recovered from his injuries, Gilbert went on to invent one of the most important strides in backcountry food storage for hikers: the bear canister, a now ubiquitous piece of gear that helps keep bears and backpackers safe!
When the bear canister was invented it did not immediately become the standard piece of gear it is today. Awareness of this innovation took time to spread amongst land managers, and standards for the canisters themselves did not yet exist. A hiker with many miles under their feet in the U.S. will have passed through lands managed by as many as five different Federal Agencies as well as state agencies which have park systems and fish and game departments. Given this mish mash of management, how could best practices in food storage that ensure a minimal amount of habituated wildlife, especially bears, take root?
Fast forward (with your cassette tape player, let's not forget the era here) to 1983, when the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) was formed. It brought together all the disparate groups for the purpose of better implementing its larger goal, which I’ll broadly state as the recovery of the endangered Grizzly Bear. (You can find their original charter here if you are into the history. And the 2020 update here.)
But for a typical hiker, their food storage, and a bear, the real governing body to pay attention to is the IGBC, whose responsibilities include:
Coordinating the development and dissemination of consistent messages about grizzly bear ecology and behavior; how to live, work, and recreate in grizzly habitat; how to safely secure bear attractants; how to use bear spray; how to avoid human-bear conflicts…
For those of you who speak more plainly, an “attractant” includes your peanut butter ramen dinner and snickers bars.
Now that you have an idea of how a group that certifies bear-resistant storage came to be, I have bad news. While individual land managers seem inclined to accept IGBC certification, they are not bound by any rules to accept every product that passes IGBC testing.
The result is that each individual land manager may set rules accepting or rejecting a product that has passed IGBC testing. In fact, for years there was a group named the Sierra Interagency Black Bear Group, a similar interagency group between the land managers of the Sierra, doing its own testing and certification. It’s a testament to the difficulty of penetrating a bureaucracy that, during the past few weeks of researching this article, I’ve been unable to verify if this committee still exists.
Let's next focus in on the IGBC certification process, how that experience has been for GGG brand Adotec Gear in getting their food storage products certified as bear-resistant, and what comes after that.
Adotec’s Certification Journey was a Grizzly Process
We all know the spirit of great innovation in the backpacking world, we experience it as the end user as the hottest new shelters, fleeces, or stoves being lighter and better at their use. Behind all the brands GGG sells is an entrepreneurial mind that has faced the challenge of making an idea turn into a prototype, and then into a product that is sold to a hiker. Bear-resistant food storage is certainly its own special journey, presenting unique challenges.
I spoke with Laura and Jeremy Corneil, the couple behind Adotec Gear, about the process behind getting their new product, the Ultralight Food Locker - Grizzly Bear editions, into the testing process. The need they saw in the market was a light, soft-sided container that was non-permeable, waterproof, and that wouldn’t allow bears to get a taste of food while being resistant to rodents and other critters. The result is a 6.5oz 14 liter bag unlike any I’ve ever handled. The heavy weight 6oz per square yard Dyneema construction is confidence inspiring, and they do all their own manufacturing in Canada.
After a bear-resistant container undergoes a pre-test evaluation by the IGBC where it's inspected for any loose or potentially failing parts, it undergoes a live test at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. Jeremy and Laura referred to the captive grizzlies here as “the pros” noting that these bears have the most practice assailing bear-resistant containers and are quite ingenious in their methods and determination. The live test requires the bears making an attempt to breach the containers for at least 60 minutes, and Jeremy told me they needed more testing than normal, as several times the bears just gave up short of the 60 minute mark! You can see some of the footage here:
I really love seeing both bears go at the bag at the same time, pulling in different directions, with a claw in the mix for good measure! That had to be pretty satisfying for Laura and Jeremy as well. During our chat they talked of course about the weight, packability, and convenience benefits backpackers crave from a soft sided solution, but they spent more time talking about the importance of keeping bears from becoming habituated; meaning that they will not avoid human contact and come to associate it with the possibility of obtaining food. It’s clear that the safety of the bears is the first priority of their food storage products.
After the success of their IGBC certification, there’s more work to do. Jeremy told me he’s emailed every forest manager and national park he can, since the decision whether or not to approve a product is in the hands of each individual land manager, not the IGBC. Outside of the Sierra Black Bear Committee, which may not exist anymore, I was hard pressed to find any public information as to the details of how these decisions take place, but as near as I can tell they are not subject to any public comment, such as a Land Management plan would be.
I have reached out to some of my local agencies with which I’m familiar with their rules to discover how they came to the decisions they have regarding food storage. Mt Baker Snoqualmie National forest has a food storage order that allows soft sided bear resistant bags, and then by contrast, Olympic National Park only allows hard sided containers. As of yet, I’ve made no headway, but I hope to eventually. It may be that one day a hiker will be able to complete the Pacific Crest Ttrail (PCT) without a bear can, lightening their load and keeping bears safe, but we’re not there yet.
It’s been nearly 50 years since the bear canister was born, and in that time great strides have been made in keeping bears and backpackers safe, while companies like Adotec continue to innovate solutions. Bear encounters in Yosemite have decreased nearly 66 percent in the last decade alone. Hopefully with continued ingenuity from gear makers and compliance from backpackers we’ll continue to keep bears safe and peanut butter ramen where it belongs: in the stomach of an exhausted hiker!
What’s Next?
It’s obviously in the interest of bears and backpackers to have effective options approved by as many agencies as possible. One of the figures I came across from the late 2000s was that the Sierra Group was estimating a 91 percent compliance with regulations rate among backcountry travelers. It might be possible to get this even higher, and with lighter options for food storage too!
When you research the approved food storage options for where you are hiking, don’t stop at what is listed on the website. Take a moment to call a ranger station and ask about a product, regardless of whether or not it is approved. This can also help raise awareness of what is out there for the rangers too. Maybe even ask them how food storage management decisions are made. We all know that public lands agencies face shrinking budgets in the face of ever increasing numbers of visitors — expecting them to set aside time to research the latest and greatest backpacking gear is not realistic. But maybe together we can raise more awareness around the approved bear-resistant foot storage innovations out there.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Scott Nechemias has hiked over 10,000 miles in the backcountry, often accompanied by his wife Jordan and their fur monsters, Cheese and Utah. He has a particular affinity for off-trail travel, the high desert, and the places in the world less traveled by people. You can find more of his trips on Instagram.
