© 2025 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
See all our election coverage here
Our Living Lands is a collaboration of the Mountain West News Bureau, Koahnic Broadcast Corporation and Native Public Media.

Making apple cider is a sweet way to reduce bear conflicts

A woman wearing a baseball hat and glasses reaches high into a tree with a long red pole to pick apples.
Hanna Merzbach / Wyoming Public Media
Kari Kingery, wildlife program manager for the Confederate Salish and Kootenai Tribes, picks apples off a tree in Ronan, Mont. The goal is to make cider and reduce fruit that attracts bears.

Apple cider is a fall staple. It’s also a tasty side effect of grizzly bear management on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Picking apples means there’s less food to attract bears. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Hanna Merzbach reported on the process from Northwest Montana.

Kari Kingery is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and leads the tribes’ wildlife program. “We know that this has always been the bear's home,” Kingery said. “They created this area for us to live and flourish, and so there's that respect there.”

Hanna is the Mountain West News Bureau reporter for Wyoming Public Media.

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.