Parks Canada officials killed a bear in Mount Revelstoke National Park over the weekend of August 27 and 28, officials said in an email Tuesday afternoon.

Parks Canada had been keeping lower parts of the park closed due to the high amount of bears in the area, including the Snowforest Campground.

Parks Canada has people called, human wildlife coexistence specialists. They were monitoring the situation. One bear had been getting into food and acting "boldly." Parks Canada's specialists trapped it over the weekend and killed it.

"Due to its behaviour, proximity to the City of Revelstoke and risks to visitor safety, the difficult decision was made to euthanize the bear." Said the email from Parks Canada.

The Snowforest Campground will re-open on Thursday to what Parks Canada calls hard-sided camping units. These are trailers and campers. Tents and tent trailers will be not be allowed, and Parks Canada will reach out to people in their reservation system to let them know.

The Soren Sorensen and 23 Connector trails are now re-opened as well, although warning remain that there are bears in the area.

Record Wildfires

So far this year there have been 17 wildfires in Mount Revelstoke National Park. That's the most on record for a year. The lightning storm on Aug. 19 lit 13 fires, and that's a record for the most number of fires to start from a single storm in the park.

The Flat Creek prescribed fire in Glacier National Park continues to burn. There will be smoke visible on the Trans Canada Highway southeast of the Hemlock Grove. Parks asks people not to report smoke from this fire.

Toxic drug warning

Interior Health put out a drug poisoning overdose alert on Friday for the West Kootenay region. People in Castlegar, Trail and Nelson have been overdosing from toxic drugs. The overdoses have been fatal and non-fatal.

People can test their drugs before they use them. There are drug testing sites in Golden and Nelson. Go www.drugcheck.ca to check for the nearest location to check your drugs.

The alert will remain until Sept. 8.

So far this year there have been 149 fatal drug overdoses in the Interior Health region. There haven't been any reported in Revelstoke.