Protect Your Food and Garbage
by John Weckerle
Cibola National Forest and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish have issued a joint order regarding the proper storage of food and garbage in the Sandia and Mountainair Ranger Districts. Visitors must ensure that food and garbage are acceptably stored both day and night and are unavailable to bears and other wildlife. Fines for violating the order may be up to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for organizations. For more detail, read the joint release.
This is a good time to remind residents that they should be managing their food, and especially their garbage, in just the same way. Those who put their garbage out the night before collection should make sure to use animal-proof containers.  Animals can easily be habituated to human food in residential areas and become a nuisance, as is evidenced by the stories we have heard over the years regarding the need to capture or kill bears in the Sandias and Manzanos.