Doug Bell of Northern Lights Estate Winery  pours  a sample of  Lumiere Blanche  for  Dave Bakker  from the vats where  wine is fermenting. – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – For the second   straight year, Northern Bear Aware Society has received a cheque from the Northern Lights Estate Winery.

The  money   is payment for  fruit   collected by the Society  this fall,   as it  worked to remove attractants  from   properties in Prince George.   The  fruit collected  is  delivered to the winery in Prince George, which  is using the apples to make  “Lumiere Blanche”,  a light white wine.   The  wine is already being made  and will be ready for sale in the Spring.

Dave Bakker,  head of the Northern Bear Aware Society  says they collected  nearly 9 thousand pounds of  apples this year,   double the amount collected  last year.  “It’s really important the people who  either  delivered  the fruit from their  trees directly to the winery,  or  had  volunteers pick them  for them,  are thanked for this.   It  means  the message is getting out that  we have to do  whatever we can to  eliminate  bear attractants  from  our neighbourhoods.”

The  Northern Lights Estate Winery    also hired some  people from AiMHi to  pick fruit,   providing jobs  to those who  often face  challenges  finding work.

The cheque from the winery  amounted to $3237.50,  dollars that will go a long way towards  funding  education programs  in the  city  to  get  people to  remove attractants. “This  ( amount)  is an  unexpected surprise”  says   Bakker.

41 bears were destroyed from April 1 – Nov. 15 in Prince George,  and  half  were destroyed in the  past six weeks  when bears are looking for any  kind of food  to prepare themselves for hibernation.