May 7 will introduce a new educational opportunity for locals as Bear Smart Durango partners with Durango Arts Center to host the city’s inaugural Bear Film Festival.
In 2025, Colorado received 5,300 human-bear encounter reports; it was La Plata County that headed the state in these reports, Bryan Peterson, Bear Smart director, said.
Bear Smart Durango has been informing the public about black bear safety since 2003 when it officially formed as a nonprofit. The organization, co-founded by Peterson, focuses on reducing human-bear conflicts through training, education and community engagement.
If you go
WHAT: Bear Film Festival
WHERE: Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave.
WHEN: 6-8 p.m. May 7 (doors open at 5:30 p.m.)
TICKETS: $25
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.bearsmartdurango.org/bear-film-fest
In 2026, Bear Smart Durango is determined to break the increasing human-bear encounter pattern with a new approach to teaching the community: Bear Film Festival.
Starting at 6 p.m. May 7 at the DAC, the festival will showcase a diverse lineup of 14 short films, all of which highlight innovative approaches to coexistence, conservation and conflict prevention.
“The whole point of the Bear Film Festival is to show examples of what’s been done elsewhere,” Peterson said. “The films should inspire community members to rethink a few things and work toward becoming an actual bear smart community.”
Featured films include: “Zapped! Managing Conflict in Southern Alberta” (Living With Wildlife), “Bears in the Modern World – Electric Deer” (Vital Ground Foundation), “Working Dogs – Our Wyoming” (Wyoming PBS) and “Montana Bear Management” (Zooprax Productions).
Additional selections place emphasis on practical coexistence strategies and regional research, including “Becoming a Bear Smart Community” (People and Carnivores), “Human-Bear Conflicts on the Rise?” (Amy Brothers/The Denver Post) and the film “Bear Deterrents,” specially created by Bear Smart Durango.
Other organizations such as the Blackfoot Challenge, Fin & Fur Films and Parks Canada will also share their stories.
“Some of the films show a little tough love with bears,” Peterson said. “It’s either aversive conditioning or using specially trained dogs; people might see this as being cruel to bears, but the alternative is relocating them or putting them down.”
Durango is a city that exists alongside wildlife: Pet food is located in garages, trash is left outside overnight and bird feeders hang at eye-level. What longtime residents, college students, new homeowners and tourists may forget: This is bear country, Peterson said.
The film festival proposes an opportunity for Durango to better understand what it means to live responsibly in a city that appreciates and works to protect nature.
Approaching bear season, individual actions play a pivotal role in preventing conflict and defending both people and wildlife. Bear Film Festival is encouraging community members to stay informed, take practical steps at home and be part of a collective effort to build a safer Durango.
“We know what can be done. We know what the answers are. It’s just a matter of making that happen,” Peterson said.
Evelyn Bopp is an Animas High School junior working as a newsroom intern at The Durango Herald for her LINK internship.
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