Two of the best saskatoon berry picking areas in these parts are along Devonshire Beach and at Marten Beach further north. This year is turning out to be a bumper crop year for the berries, and that’s brings bears and people into close contact.
“There’s been lots of bear sightings along the beach,” says Fish & Wildlife Officer Kyle Lester.
A quick tour of Marten Beach and Devonshire last Tuesday turned up plenty of bear sign and at least three sightings. At Marten Beach two browsing bruins had an audience of humans as they pulled down and stripped the saskatoon bushes next to a beachside house. On the Devonshire road, berrypickers shared the crop with two bears that were feeding not far down the ridge. The road was littered with bear scat.
Lester says as long as the bears are concentrating on their natural food and not damaging property or showing aggression, Fish & Wildlife considers it best to leave them alone. So far, the bears are behaving, although at Marten Beach their presence does tend to make people nervous.
“As long as you don’t have any food out they’ll leave you alone,” says Marten Beach cottage owner M.J. Munn-Kristoff. “(But) they’re a nuisance because you have to be on guard all the time.”
Lester says there have been quite a number of reports of sightings, but none of dangerous behaviour. If there is such behaviour, Fish & Wildlife will remove the bears. In the meantime Lester urges people to, “make lots of noise when you walk into the trees along the beaches and pathways.”
For householders it’s best not to leave any kind of food or garbage out where the bears can smell it.
“We want them to stay with their natural food,” he says. “We don’t want them getting habituated.”
John Doll of the provincial park says one bear has been removed from Marten River campground so far. There have been lots of calls of bear sightings, but as long as the bears mind their own business, they’re being left alone.
If you’re picking berries in the park, says Doll, don’t pick alone, “and if a bear moves into your area, move on.”

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