We support students in their pursuits to take an active role in their community.

Colorado Bear Coalition sponsored a WPI student team on a research project about black bear-human interactions in the Estes Park area. WPI, an engineering and science school in Massachusetts, requires STEM students to complete an immersive 7-week qualifying research project at one of WPI’s 50 Project Centers around the world.

Estes Park sits at the base of the Rocky Mountain National Park and experiences a high number of human-bear conflicts each year. Through extensive interviews, surveys and mapping, the team researched the causes and frequency of conflict, community perception of bears and provided potential solutions.

A significant finding was a high correlation between restaurants that do not securely store cooking oil and bear conflict. This highlights a need to look at other mountain towns to ensure that restaurants are not only storing trash properly but cooking oil as well.

The team created an easy-to-use tracking program for YMCA staff to better track problem areas and provided potential solutions such as using electric fencing around or installing vertical bars in cabin windows and identified an area for planting a native food buffer zone.

The students hope to come back their senior year to design a bear resistant trash container that is cheaper and better than any already on the market!