Grizzly Guard in the News
Grizzly Guard Composter was built to solve a very real Greater Yellowstone problem: how do you compost at home when grizzly bears are part of the neighborhood? Over the years, our work — and the broader conversation about bears, food waste, and living responsibly in bear country — has shown up in local press and community media. Here's a running roundup of those mentions and the stories behind them. We'll keep adding to it.
2025
Chef Notes: "Compost service helps soil, creates connections"
Jackson Hole News&Guide — column by Bru
In a feature on local composting, the News&Guide profiled Haderlie Farms and its WyoFarm Composting operation, then pointed readers to other ways Teton County residents can keep food scraps out of the landfill. Among the options highlighted: the Grizzly Guard Composter, described as a residential-scale bear-proof composter developed by Rob Sgroi with guidance from Silicon Couloir, the local nonprofit that mentors area entrepreneurs and inventors.
The piece is a great snapshot of why we built Grizzly Guard in the first place — composting only works long-term if it fits the place you live, and in Jackson Hole, that means keeping bears out of the equation.
2021
"Feds eye Griz 399 around the clock"
Jackson Hole News&Guide — Wednesday, October 27, 2021, by Mike Koshmrl
This front-page story tracked the famous sow Grizzly 399 and her four cubs during an extended walkabout through southern Jackson Hole. Wildlife managers documented a string of conflicts as the bears exploited human-related food sources — getting into livestock feed, a beekeeper's colony, grain left out for moose, and a backyard compost pile.
We include this one because it captures the exact scenario Grizzly Guard is designed to prevent. An open or poorly secured compost pile is an easy meal for a bear, and once a grizzly learns to associate homes with food, the outcome is rarely good for the bear. Stories like 399's are a reminder that bear-resistant composting isn't a nice-to-have in this landscape — it's how we keep both our food scraps and our bears where they belong.
Have you seen Grizzly Guard mentioned somewhere we missed? Let us know and we'll add it to the list.