BROWNING, Mont. – Wildlife managers on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation are installing 25 new bearproof garbage containers, hoping to reduce conflicts that have led them to kill at least 15 black bears this summer.

Experts say a weak summer berry crop has bears on the prowl for easy food sources, and garbage cans full of food and trash are tempting targets.

Dan Carney, a wildlife biologist for the tribe, said typically three or four bears would be destroyed each year after causing problems on the reservation. The deaths this year are “way up,” he said.

With the help of a tribal wildlife grant and the Defenders of Wildlife, Blackfeet officials spent about $41,000 on the new bearproof bins, he said. Workers placed the bins at different locations over the past two weeks.

“The Dumpsters have helped an awful lot,” Carney said. “But some bears that are already food-conditioned are searching even more now.”

Restaurants and campgrounds were some of the first to receive the new bins because they tend to generate smelly garbage and are places where the public gathers.

“We’ve got garbage everywhere, but not enough money to put the Dumpsters everywhere,” he said. “We spread them out to areas where we have had the most problems.”

In Maine, which has the largest black bear population east of the Rockies, wildlife officials worry that nuisance complaints will rise if a referendum proposal to restrict the annual bear hunt passes in November.

Voters in Maine will decide whether to outlaw baiting, trapping and hounding of bears, methods referendum backers consider unsporting and inhumane. Opponents say black bears will venture more frequently into towns and cities if they aren’t managed through the targeted methods.

In Montana, one of the biggest problems is in the St. Mary area, where at least eight bears have been destroyed this summer.

Restaurant owner John Cunningham said bears have actually poked their head in the restaurant’s windows and even tried to scout out the kitchen. Three cubs recently were spotted rolling around the deck of a nearby home quarreling over a beer bottle.

“It’s been a bad year for bears,” he said.

The restaurant since has received one of the new bearproof bins, and Cunningham said he is happy with it. Bear paw prints on the container indicate it’s working, he said.

Minette Johnson, Northern Rockies regional representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said educating the public about keeping areas clean is critical.

The group contributed about $6,780 for smaller, bearproof containers on the reservation, she said. Last year, about $6,744 was put toward the larger containers.

“We’re really just getting started,” she said.