Not a gratifying title, but it's one Seward has been close to earning, reported Larry Lewis, wildlife technician with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Last year, according to Lewis, only Homer could compete with Seward in the number of bears shot and killed in city limits. A lot of these killings are caused when bears are lured into residential areas, mainly by unprotected trash left out by people. Bears then learn to associate food with people, an unsafe situation for all concerned.

However, Lewis' Wildlife Conservation Community Program could save the day.

"We initiated the program in response to the growing number of negative interactions between people and wildlife on the Kenai Peninsula," he explained.

Valhalla Heights and Shaginoff communities in Kenai were two success stories Lewis mentioned in connection with his program. The Alaska Audubon Society gave the communities, which border part of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, free residential trash pickup for two years if the communities agreed to use bear-resistant trash cans.

Lewis said that in those two years not a single Kenai police or Alaska State Trooper report of bear or moose disturbance came from Valhalla or Shaginoff. However, as soon as the free service went away, the communities began having bear problems again.

Realizing the success of the program and the need to extend it, the Kenai City Council voted to identify the city as a Wildlife Conservation Community.

The community backed the program and applied for grants that made bear-resistant containers available at reduced cost. Local trash services Industrial Refuse and Alaska Waste distribute the bear-resistant cans, which Kenai residents can purchase with WCC Program discounts for $50.

Other communities since have written into their codes the requirement for bear-resistant waste containment, and the borough has considered a similar code in its long-range plans, said Lewis. Current Alaska state law calls for a $110 fine for negligent feeding of wildlife. Spending $50 on a bear-resistant trash can would pay for itself in avoiding a single ticket.

Seward would be an ideal community to make the commitment of conservation, Lewis said. Everyone already pays for waste pickup within city limits, so the city just would have to get the funding for equipment to make it affordable.

What the city needs to qualify is "a willingness to enforce and/or strengthen city ordinances regarding waste management and human-caused attractants in residential and developed areas," he said. Seward also would need to pursue grants, locate a nonprofit to maintain and disperse funding, and purchase signs. For instance, restaurants or bed and breakfasts with appropriate trash cans could post a sign in their windows saying, "Bear-Safe Business."

Seward has to want the program, Lewis said, but the program would cost the city very little and the benefits could be huge. The city can shape the way the program works for its residents.

"This is a community program; this is not the state coming in saying 'this is what you should do,'" Lewis said.

He would like Alaskans to understand that people come here for closeness to nature, and that the program is not designed to push animals back into the wilderness.

"The point of this program is not to keep bears and moose out of our neighborhoods," he explained. "It is to prevent bears and moose from becoming food-conditioned in our neighborhoods. This is coastal Alaska and we are going to have these animals in our communities.

"Wildlife has an intrinsic value," Lewis said, adding that protecting it is worth the time and money.