To help Colorado communities coexist with bears, Colorado Parks and Wildlife will continue its Human-Bear Conflict Reduction Community Grant Program this spring to provide financial resources to support efforts that reduce human-bear conflicts.

CPW will offer up to $1 million available through a competitive grant process to be used on projects that reduce conflicts with bears. This grant program strives to foster innovative solutions to human-bear conflicts that can be replicated in other parts of the state.

Local governments, nonprofit and community groups, homeowner associations, businesses, tribes, universities and individuals are eligible to receive funding for grants between $50,000 and $500,000. Eligible projects would reduce the availability of attractants to black bears in communities experiencing human-bear conflicts or would disincentive black bears from entering areas of high conflict.

---

---

Applications are available on the CPW website and are due by 5 p.m. May 5. For questions, contact CPW Grant Manager Travis Long at travis.long@state.co.us.

Wildlife managers estimate that Colorado is home to 17,000 to 20,000 bears with a stable and growing bear population. From 2019 to 2022, CPW received more than 18,000 reports of sightings and conflicts with bears, and almost one-third of those reports involved trash cans and dumpsters as an attractant.

---

---