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Gleaning project deemed a success

More than one tonne of fruit was collected by the gleaning project this year, most of which was donated the Revelstoke food bank.
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A volunteer picks fruit for the gleaning project.

More than one tonne of fruit was collected by the gleaning project this year, most of which was donated the Revelstoke food bank.

In a letter to volunteers, Bear Aware coordinator Sue Davies reported that 1,190 kilograms of fruit was picked from Revelstoke fruit trees. Of that, 445 kilograms was donated fresh to the food bank, 321 kilograms was preserved and donated, and volunteers got to keep 424 kilograms of fruit,

The most common fruit were plums, of which 708 kilograms were picked. Volunteers also gathered four kilograms of currants, 34 kilograms of crab apples, 36 kilograms of cherries, 387 kilograms of apples and 21 kilograms of bears.

Davies credited a reduction in the number of bears destroyed to the success of the program. Only two bears were destroyed this year, compared to an average of seven.

"Partly this may have been due to a good wild berry crop, but since no bears were destroyed after accessing unmanaged fruit, I feel that the gleaning project has had a big part to play in preventing bears from becoming food-condtiioned," she wrote. "The success of this season's fruit gleaning and reduced bear mortality make it all seem so worth while."