By Shannon Lukens for Steamboat Radio News. This bear in the picture visited the trash dumpster Tuesday evening.
Steamboat Springs Police officers are going to start issuing citations to Mountain Village Apartments, if the trash dumpster/compactor isn’t fixed soon.
Steamboat Springs Police Chief Mark Beckett says, “We have received 17 calls for service at this location since the end of June. The management company, Avanti, has advised that they are working on a covering for the enclosure but have no dates.”
Chief Beckett adds, “I directed the SSPD staff to start issuing citations for every violation and we will proactively be going up there once a week and issuing a citation until the situation is resolved.”
Community Service Supervisor Krista Amatuzio says, “Violations are cited as a mandatory court appearance. Fees associated with the ticket would be assessed by the municipal process.”
Courtesy photos.
Bears are causing constant problems for neighbors and residents of Mountain Village Apartments, at 1101 Mountain Village Circle.
Bears are getting into the unsecured dumpster area at the entrance to the neighborhood by either climbing over the wall or under the fence.
“We’ve had about five bears hanging out here at a time. And it’s absolutely crazy. You have bears fighting in the dumpsters. And they’re not scared of humans anymore. We’ve tried to scare them away. They don’t do anything. They’ve had the cops here. They’ve shot them with rubber bullets.”
Residents at the apartments don’t want to be identified.
“Our dumpster is not bear proof. It’s like a chute where all the trash flows into, and the bears get in from the back because there’s nothing to lock it. And so basically, this family of bears live here, and it’s just so sad. The mama bear is tagged twice already, and it’s our dumpster’s fault.”
One bear that is frequently spotted has two red ear tags. This bear is back, according to CPW Area Wildlife Manager Kris Middledorf.
“The sow with red ears tags and her two cubs are likely the same family group our CPW Wildlife Managers removed from the trash compactor multiple times and ultimately relocated to Willow Creek Pass south of Rand in Jackson County (~40 miles away). The three bears walked back to Steamboat Springs in four days to the same location they were originally captured.”
Residents have pictures of bears in the trees around the dumpster enclosure.
The bears have dragged bags of trash out of the enclosure to go through it, like this picture in front of the Mountain Village Apartments sign.
Screens are damaged along the ground level apartments where bears have tried to get in.
“So I was luckily home whenever the bear broke into my house. He just put his head through my window. And we were able to shoo him away. But while I was away over the weekend, the bear went window to window of the entire complex, and he’s gotten into at least maybe three or four apartments that I know of.”
“It didn’t destroy my house, but it ransacked it. Went into the pantry, got all the snacks, got some sodas, defecated all over the house.”
People were gathering at the dumpster enclosure Tuesday night, to speak to Steamboat Radio News. A Steamboat Springs Police officer drove through the complex while we were there. Then a bear showed up and went to the enclosure, crawling under the gate to get in.
One woman who was watching all of this with the neighbors lives in the area.
“So I walk past here. I have a walking route, and I come past here every day. And there’s been bears here every single day except one that I’ve come past here. Every single time I come. One time, there were seven bears in this trash dumpster. And the school bus lets off not 20 feet away from this dumpster, and it lets off dozens of kids morning and night, and there are bears in this dumpster every single time that it lets off and picks up.”
We reached out to Avanti Residential, which manages the Mountain Village Apartments. The response is from OBI Creative PR Strategist Ashly Richardson, whose email byline says she is based in Omaha, Nebraska.
“Mountain Village Apartment Homes is aware of increased bear activity in and around the property and is taking proactive steps to reduce potential attractants. Trash collection has been increased to weekly pick-up, the compactor area is regularly power-washed, and residents have received bear-safety information and designated trash drop-off times. Additional improvements to the trash area are planned to discourage bear activity.”
UPDATE: New statement from Ashly Richardson at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday. “The safety of our residents and community is the top priority for Mountain Village Apartment Homes. Our team is actively working to address increased bear activity around the property and reduce attractants.
Fabrication of a new permanent dumpster enclosure structure is underway in collaboration with an outside vendor. That structure is expected to be completed within the next three to four weeks pending permitting. While the permanent structure is being completed, we are implementing temporary measures in the trash disposal area.
Our team is actively working to address the situation and put additional safety measures in place.”
Photos courtesy Keep Bears Wild Steamboat.
Christy Bubenheim with Keep Bears Wild Steamboat says she was asked to provide the “bear-safety information,” mentioned in the statement from Mountain Village management.
“I was invited to Mountain Village Apartments’ summer BBQ to present to them education on living amongst bears in close distance, and within two to three minutes of pulling into their parking lot, I saw seven different bears and ended up not having very much time to educate, and spent most of the afternoon just keeping the bears from coming to the BBQ.”
Keep Bears Wild Steamboat Facebook post from Mountain Village Apartments on Aug. 16
The woman who walks by the dumpsters every day, who also has asked to remain anonymous, says she reached out to Steamboat Springs City Council on Aug. 18. Here is that correspondence.
Dear Steamboat Springs City Council,
I’m writing to alert you to a potentially deadly situation in the Whistler neighborhood, and to ask for your help. I live on Hiawatha Ct., and every day I walk past the Mountain Village Apartments. The Mountain Village trash compactor is broken and is completely open and unsecured, and apparently has been this way for weeks. I have been told that Mountain Village “is working to correct the problem.” In the meantime, there are no less than seven distinct bears that are continuously in the trash. The entire apartment complex is still using this “trash compactor” to dispose of trash; often depositing trash while bears are actually inside of it. These bears have become completely habituated to people, and are in the trash at this location almost constantly. Last Saturday, there was a block party at this location, and dozens of people were eating, visiting, and children were playing, while seven bears meandered in and out of the party. In the past week alone, I have seen people with air horns, bear spray, and one man with a loaded gun, trying to scare the bears away from the open trash. The trash compactor, with habituated bears constantly in and around it, is just 20 feet from where the school bus picks up and drops off dozens of children every day to walk home to their apartments. Today when I walked by, there were two bears on a woman’s balcony rattling her sliding glass door trying to get in. This poor woman was in tears and her neighbors were trying to scare the bears away with an air horn. She told me she would have to move to her sister’s house if the situation continued.
The department of wildlife has been called numerous times, and residents are being told to leave the bears alone if they don’t pose an “imminent threat.” This whole situation is an imminent threat.
The Mountain Village apartments are one of the only low-income apartments in the city, and these residents deserve better. I understand that there is a bear problem everywhere in town right now, but this situation is unique. This is not a few knocked over trash cans or a bear breaking into a car downtown. This is unsecured trash for an entire apartment complex, and this situation has been going on for weeks. I am pleading with you on the City Council to pull whatever levers need to be pulled to secure the trash at Mountain Village. It cannot continue to be unsecured while Mountain Village makes a plan or waits for a contractor to fix it.
Please, before someone dies, require Mountain Village to stop using the broken compactor, clean up the trash, and immediately install some secure trash dumpsters. They can fix the broken compactor while the emergency dumpsters are in use. Maybe the city could even loan Mountain Village some secure dumpsters? These bears will move on when the trash is not available. Please, come take a look for yourself and talk to the residents at Mountain Village; and please, help correct this truly dangerous situation.
We have again reached out to the Avanti Residential to find out when the dumpster enclosure will be bear proofed. We will update this story when that information becomes available.
UPDATE… As soon as this story was posted, this picture came in from a neighbor. The bears are in the dumpster right now (11:45 a.m. Wednesday morning).
Past Steamboat Radio News Coverage
- Sept. 9, 2026 — SSPD to start issuing citations to Mountain Village Apartments, because of the bears in the trash there
- Sept. 4, 2026 — Bear swipes man in Steamboat Springs
- Sept. 3, 2026 —Thirteen bears in Routt County have been euthanized by CPW
- Sept. 2, 2026 — A bear pair is breaking into apartments near Whistler Road
- Aug. 29, 2026 — Guest Column — Here’s how YOU can help with the starving bears
- Aug. 25, 2026 — A bear that got into Casey’s Pond in July was euthanized
- Aug. 24, 2026 — Routt County Dispatch responds to 87 bear calls in one week
- Aug. 21, 2026 — Bear and cubs in landscaper’s truck
- Aug. 19, 2026 — A bear has attacked a woman in Steamboat Springs
- July 31, 2026 — Human-Bear Conflicts are up 214% from last year in Routt County
- July 3, 2026 — Be aware of Bear Activity in Steamboat Springs
- May 27, 2026 — New Bill strengthens penalties for those found to knowingly feed bears
- March 1, 2025 — CPW offers $1M in grants to help reduce conflicts with bears
- Aug. 27, 2025 — A $73K statewide grant is awarded to YVHA for bearproofing
- June 23, 2025 — CPW is looking for a bear that has been getting into homes in Steamboat Springs
- March 19, 2025 — CPW is offering grants to help reduce conflicts with bears
- Nov. 4, 2024 — Bear conflicts are up in Moffat County and statewide but down in Routt County
- May 22, 2024 — (Story updated) CPW is trying to trap a bear that swiped at a person in Steamboat Springs Tuesday
- May 13, 2024 — Close the Lid on your Bear-Resistant Trash Cans
- Feb. 26, 2024 — Bear conflicts in NW Colorado go down in 2023
- Oct. 16, 2023 — Sick bear in Steamboat Springs euthanized by CPW
- Aug. 22, 2023 — Steamboat Springs awarded grant for Human-Bear Conflict Reduction
- Aug. 1, 2023 — Bears will soon start looking for dens
- June 20, 2023 — Bear in Blue Sage area has been caught
- June 18, 2023 — Wildlife officers plan to euthanized bear in window
- June 1, 2023 — Don’t use a gun to haze bears away
- March 13, 2023 — CPW offers $1M in grants to help reduce conflicts with bears
- Feb. 15, 2023 — Bear conflicts go up for 2022 in Northwest Colorado
- Aug. 15, 2022 — A Steamboat man shot and killed a bear that was in his home early Saturday morning
- July 12, 2022 — Steamboat bears are busy this summer
- Aug. 28, 2022 — Five goats killed by a bear in Oak Creek Canyon
- April 14, 2022 — Be Bear Aware — CPW asks that you do your part to reduce conflicts
- March 24, 2022 — “Be Bear Aware” is the focus for Leadership Steamboat this year
- Feb. 28, 2022 — Northwest Colorado has the most bear sightings and conflicts in Colorado for 2021
- Oct. 26, 2021 — Warning issued to man injured in bear attack in South Routt County back in late May
- Sept. 16, 2021 — CPW traps second bear in Steamboat neighborhood
- Sept. 7, 2021 — A Black Bear is shot in a home in Steamboat overnight
- Aug. 12, 2021 — Black Bears entering Hyperphagia stage
- July 26, 2021 — Bear euthanized in Hahns Peak area
- June 5, 2021 — Update on Bear Attack in Whitewood Subdivision
- May 31, 2021 — Routt County Man Injured in Bear Attack