During the period for public comment at Tuesday’s Basalt Town Council meeting, citizens voiced their concerns about the high frequency of bear confrontations this season and, as a result, bear fatalities.
Daniela Kohl, founder of the Roaring Fork Valley Bear Coalition, advised council to spread the word on bear safety measures especially coming up on Halloween. According to Kohl, pumpkins are prime food for bears so citizens should be advised to bring their jack-o-lanterns inside at night.
Aaron Munch with the Basalt Police Department stated that the agency has responded to 62 bear calls. Of those calls, 27 were due to trash violations. Munch stated that approximately half of those trash violations resulted in warnings, and court summonses are only issued to repeat offenders.
Councilor Ryan Slack acknowledged these concerns and stated that, especially since this year has been particularly bad for bear encounters, the Town will consider more stringent regulations on trash disposal and storage to prevent confrontations in the future.

YouthZone
The youth diversion and advocacy nonprofit, YouthZone, came to the table this week to present their annual update on work in Basalt. YouthZone works across eleven regional communities to foster positive development for teens — specializing in intervention, prevention and volunteerism.
Last year, YouthZone performed 70 assessments for teens in Basalt – which included teens who may not be Basalt residents, but attend Basalt schools or otherwise are members of the community. Like many other communities, the most frequently filed juvenile criminal charges in Basalt have been alcohol and marijuana related.
Deputy Development Director Ali Naaseh-Shahry noted that, in the last year, YouthZone has noticed an increase in both incident rates and risk levels. She noted that often young clients struggle with multiple issues simultaneously, from drug use to difficulty socializing, mental health issues and school performance.
On the other hand, YouthZone was proud to report that 93% of its clients did not reoffend during their time with the diversion program. Town attorney Jeff Conklin chimed that he has seen but a few repeat teen offenders who have worked with YouthZone.

Wildlife crossings
Cecily DeAngelo, executive director of the wildlife advocacy nonprofit Roaring Fork Safe Passages (RFSP), presented a study on wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) and possible mitigation strategies. After a study examining high-collision sections of Highway 82 and Highway 133, RFSP has identified a section of 82 near Emma Road as a priority area for construction of a wildlife crossing.
The section of road between El Jebel and Basalt sees an average of 6.1 WVCs per mile, per year — one of the highest rates out of all sections studied. RFSP has also prioritized this section because of the feasibility for the construction of a wildlife crossing system..
Not only would the construction of wildlife crossings on this section of road reduce collisions, but it would also help to safely connect a deer and elk migration corridor identified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Across the Roaring Fork Watershed study area, WVCs cost an estimated $5.2 million annually, which includes the value of the wildlife killed. However, that may be a conservative estimate as WVCs often go unreported.
Still, DeAngelo acknowledged that costs for these crossings can be prohibitive. According to her estimates, a culvert for deer can range from $4-7 million, and small-scale overpasses can range from $8-12 million. She added that wildlife mitigation projects are gaining attention from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). The goal of RFSP is to create a coalition of local governments, nonprofits and philanthropists to attract CDOT’s attention and financial support.
DeAngelo stated that the Town of Basalt could help the project best by both providing funding and by regularly participating in stakeholder meetings. Mayor David Knight agreed on the importance of mitigating collisions along the section of 82 and responded that Town staff would look into supporting RFSP’s efforts.