Please be aware that the Bearberry Area:
– West of RR 60 from Twp Rd 312 to the North County –
is managed by the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area.

Here is a list of websites and phone numbers you might need:

• Fire Ban or Fire Advisory for the Bearberry Area:
  https://www.albertafirebans.ca/ select “Clearwater County” or call 403-845-4444
  If a Fire Ban is provincially declared the Province will lead communications and Mountain View County will support. If a Municipal Fire Ban is declared, Mountain View County will communicate through social media, radio, news paper and County website. 

• Current Wildfire status:
  https://wildfire.alberta.ca/wildfire-status/default.aspx
  
  
• Report a Wildfire:
  Toll Free: 310-FIRE (3473) or 911
  
  
• Planning a large-scale burn ? You now require a Fire Permit!
  If you live in one of the two Provincial Forest Protection areas in Mountain View County, a free permit can be obtained by contacting your local Alberta Agriculture and Forestry office. County permits are not valid and cannot be issued for these areas.

The Alberta Forest Protection Area portions of Mountain View County are:

• Near Water Valley – the area west of RR 54 from Twp Rd 310 to the County’s South Boundary (Call the Calgary AAF office: 403-297-8800 or 310-0000 toll free). 
• West of Sundre and Bergen, covers Coal Camp & Bearberry – areas west of RR 60 from Twp Rd 312 to the County’s North Boundary (call Rocky Mtn. House AAF office: 403-845-8250 or 310-0000 toll free). 

• Make your Property FireSmart
  How you can make your own property FireSmart – click the following link for valuable information: https://wildfire.alberta.ca/firesmart/default.aspx

• In case of Emergency and Evacuation
  In the event of a large-scale disaster that requires evacuation Mountain View County would open an Incident Command Post (ICP).  In coordination with the Province the County’s ICP would provide evacuation directions which will be supported by on the ground Fire department assistance and Public works staff.

For more information, please contact: 
Provincial Information Officer
780-420-1968
wildfireinfo@gov.ab.ca 

The County of Mountain View Director of Planning and Development shared with us the following information:

The Bearberry Area Structure Plan (ASP) Amendment will be considered by Council after holding a Public Hearing on April 14^th at or after 9 am.

The reasons for the amendment:

1. To align the ASP policies with the recently approved Municipal Development Plan (MDP);
2. To remove specific ASP policies for development in the Flood Hazard Areas (Floodway and Flood Fringe) and rely on MDP policies and Land Use Bylaw requirements to guide development in these areas.

Attached to this email is an excerpt of the Council Agenda from February 24^th when Council gave first reading to the bylaw and includes a track change version.  The advert for the public hearing is also attached. 

The proposed bylaw can be viewed here on our website:
http://www.bearberrycommunity.com/BB_Agenda_24_02_2021.pdf

For more information about registration to participate in the Public Hearing please click http://www.bearberrycommunity.com/BB_ASP_ad_2021.pdf

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you, or any landowners have questions; would like to send comment to be included in the Council Agenda; or would like to participate in the Public Hearing.

Regards,

Margaretha Bloem
403-335-3311 ext. 166 | mbloem@mvcounty.com

Hunting Season is upon us. Beware of suspicious activity such as:

1. Driving slower than usual, especially early morning-late evening.

2. Stopping on road, usually near trees or areas where deer frequent.

3. Stopping, then driving away fast and erratically.

4. Dropping a person off, then driving away.

5. Driving same road and turning around.

6.If you hear a rifle shot or shots.

7. If you hear shot or shots and see vehicle drive away at a fast speed.

8. If you see a person or person standing, walking, running or hiding on posted land.

9. If you see vehicle with firearm sticking out window, windows of vehicle.

10. If you observe one or more vehicles driving together slow or parked together on roadway or otherwise.  

These 10 signs of suspicious activity are more than obvious and there are more not mentioned. If you do observe something suspicious, take a photo and/or jot particulars of ‘W-5’ in a notebook. I suggest keeping a log of noted activity, and of course if an obvious offense is observed, call the Report A Poacher or RAP hotline to Fish and Wildlife Enforcement at 1-800-642-3800, or RCMP complaint line. This line is active 24/7/365 for violations OR suspicious activity, OR a dangerous wildlife situation.

Murray Bates

Due to the Corona Virus restrictions the following meetings in the Bearberry Community Hall are cancelled until further notice:

• Yoga Classes – new Classes are scheduled to start in Fall of 2020 again
• Pickle Ball schedules (the group will decide whether and when they will meet on a case by case basis)
• Healthy Eating presentation – no new date is available
• Bearberry Wapitana Society monthly meeting and ordering of items for Bearberry Outdoor Observers Group

As soon as there are new dates available we will update this website.

Thank you for your understanding and stay healthy!

Bearberry Wapitana Society

During our last meeting it was decided to us the title “Outdoor Observer” for further initiatives in matters for crime prevention in our community.

Murray will give us a demonstration how to use Bear Spray, Tac-lights, personal alarm carried on a key chain and on women’s self defense.

Murray will get Bear Spray cans and Tac-lights for a special price if we get enough orders together. We will collect orders during out next monthly Society meeting on March 31. 2020. For more information please contact us.

Murray obtained two metal clad gate/fence post Rap signs, 18” X 30”. He also has a number of vinyl soft signs of same size, if some one would wish to make a wooden sign board backing for them. If anyone is interested to obtain those signs for their property please contact us.

As advertised the Bearberry Wapitana Society initiated a first follow-up meeting how to prevent Crime, such as break & enters and especially poaching, in the Bearberry area. This meeting was held on February 10, 2020. It was attended by 23 Bearberry Residents.

The meeting was meant to gather information and ideas what the Bearberry residents could do to help each other in the event that

• someone sees a suspicious vehicle in their driveway,
• strangers trespass their land,
• scouting on private land,
• seeing or hearing someone shooting out of hunting season,
• shooting wildlife from vehicles, etc.
• and any other suspicious behaviour.

We learned that there were incidents over the last years and people got frustrated because they got the impression that there was nothing done by local authorities. Therefore the attendants came to the conclusion: “We have to help ourselves”  and communication is the key for success.

In an effort to reduce crime in the area, it was discussed, that we will be creating a Bearberry Crime Watch Fanout list.  Because not everyone has his private phone number listed in the local phone book and maybe someone doesn’t have a land line, there is no chance to reach your neighbours anymore. Therefore, in order to be able to reach as many interested Bearberry residents and to follow the Privacy Act Law we need to get permission from everyone who would like to be on this distribution list. This list is different from the one the Society uses for updates about upcoming events or other information sent from time to time.

The Bearberry Crime Watch Fanout List will be communicated between those Bearberry residents who express their interest to get informed about ongoing suspicious activities in the area. The idea is that one neighbour informs the other neighbour and from there the words are spreading. There will be not one single person responsible to inform everyone!

If YOU, as a resident or landowner in Bearberry, would like to have YOUR name added to the list, please email the following information to Alex (lingerwood@icloud.com):
1. Your name (s)
2. Location (TR/RR)
3. Preferred method of contact info (cell phone, home phone, email, messenger, etc.)
4. Second method of contact info

Alex volunteered to create a database with the provided information. With your information you give us permission to distribute your contact info’s within the Group.

The Bearberry Wapitana Society just recently created it’s own “Bearberry Community Hall” Facebook page where we will post messages about ongoing events and issues in the Bearberry area. https://www.facebook.com/Bearberry-Community-Hall-294176483964293/
We hope we can use this tool to spread out the word about suspicious activities in a timely manner as well.

Our preference is to send out information via text fanout, but we recognize that not everyone uses their cell phones constantly or is not a Facebook user. Therefore it is important to be on the fanout list.

Please spread the word to others in the area you know who may not have Facebook or email access. Thanks!

There will be a follow up meeting on May 11^th, 2020 at 7:00 pm at the Bearberry Community Hall to “prepare” us for the May long weekend! In addition we would like to get feedback from participants and suggestions what works best at that meeting.