Bear canisters are a necessary item in your parks for good reason. Unfortunately, most bear canisters are bulky and weigh in at 2-3.5 pounds.To a lightweight person this is a significant portion of the total load, ie a 120 pounder in normal level of fitness should carry less than 24 pounds. This means the bear canister will take up 10% of their total load.

Ursack 2014 S29 weighs 7oz and has been approved by the IGBC. It is accepted in many of the National Parks, including Denali. It has been extensively field tested and found to be effective against brown bears and other critters.

There are record requests for backpacking permits in your parks for next summer. Because of the movie "Wild" many of these hikers are neophytes who, frankly, will have enough trouble carrying their pack without an added 2 pounds. Add to that the difficulty of fitting many days of food and toiletries into a cannister and you get poor compliance. In my experience it's easy to be bear safe with an Ursack, which should increase compliance.

Please look at the new Ursack and give strong consideration to approving this item in time for summer 2015