Bears make a mess in Camp Sherman

Volunteers at the Camp Sherman Waste Transfer Station turned out to help clean up the mess created by bears who have been raiding the station's dumpsters at night and scattering garbage over as much as a half-acre of woods surrounding the facility about a mile south of the community.

Bears were once a common sight when the area had open pit dumping many years ago, but had not put in an appearance at the transfer station until just the past couple of weeks when they emptied dumpsters on several different occasions.

Besides cleaning up after the night-time raids, volunteers have been working with Oregon Fish and Wildlife to find ways to discourage the nocturnal scavengers, thought to be a sow with cubs. So far, they've tried pouring ammonia in and around the containers to no avail; next they'll begin experimenting with different kinds of bear-proof dumpster lids.

Current "Dump Master" Peter Schay, who organizes the volunteer corp that oversees the transfer station, said, "We're told that if we can interrupt their habit of chowing down here for even a short period of time, they'll begin looking elsewhere for their evening meal; our goal is to accomplish that without harming the animals."