BIG BEAR, Calif. — Big Bear has seen a huge spike in visitors since the pandemic began, but it's created new challenges for residents like 12-year-old middle school volunteer Abby Melnick, who finds herself having to pick up their trash.

What You Need To Know

  • The "Care For Big Bear" campaign ramped up in January

  • Area residents say an increase in visitors during the pandemic has exacerbated problems with littering, noise, parking, and occupancy

  • Enforcement officers are working to enforce urgency ordinance violations

  • Landscaping crews have been working to help clean up litter

“It makes me feel sad because it’s taking away from the natural beauty of the mountains in Big Bear, and it makes me a little angry that people are just throwing their trash all over the place and not picking it up,” Abby said.

Joanne Norton has lived in Big Bear for four years and operates her Deep Forest Designs jewelry business out of her home. She hikes on local trails almost every day.

Lately she’s seen the trash pile-up and mounting problems like graffiti, trespassing, noise, and parking violations have escalated tensions in the community.

“It’s a double-edged sword. We need the tourists, but the overabundance of them lately has made it unpleasant,” Norton said.

With pandemic stay-at-home orders and recommendations limiting air travel, Big Bear has experienced a sharp rise in visitors from all over SoCal – many who can get there in just about two hours.

In the last month, the visitor’s bureau, Visit Big Bear, has accelerated its “Care For Big Bear” campaign, employing added PR measures like bumper and window stickers, while putting out more trash bins and portable bathrooms.

The biggest partnership has been with local landscaping businesses, which typically go dormant in the winter. Now they are helping pick-up trash.

Visit Big Bear President Loren Hafen says most visitors do respect the rules, but meeting the need for visitor revenue and the needs of residents is a balancing act.

“There’s a lot of different factors, and you’re trying to balance all of those. It’s balancing just the visitors and the residents because the residents themselves are defined in five or six different categories. You’re trying to balance everything with multiple categories of people, and that’s the most difficult task," Hafen said. "You can’t make everybody happy, but you do have to strike that balance and try to be as responsible and respectful to everyone as you can.”

The area has seen a pronounced rise in private home rentals and second home ownership in particular. It’s forced the city to adopt an urgency ordinance, addressing noise, parking, and permitted occupancy.

Despite the added visitors, Big Bear Valley does have a lower infection rates when compared to other ski area resort towns. According to statistics provided by the City of Big Bear Lake, as of Monday, January 25, Big Bear had a 4.41% infection rate among the permanent population since the pandemic began in late March.

City of Big Bear Lake Mayor Dave Caretto says code enforcement officers will be working to enforce urgency ordinance violations and hopes it will alleviate the pressure on residents.

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On the weekend of January 16 and 17, Caretto says 26 citations and $17,000 worth of fines were handed out.

“Hopefully, that will relieve our residents from sort of being the policemen in their neighborhood to police the activity of renters,” Caretto said.

Abby, who’s also on the Snow Summit Race Team and cleans up the mountains every spring, has a simple message.

“The message I want to tell people is to please pick-up the trash, because it’s not just a vacation town. There are people who live here, and it’s taking away from the natural beauty,” she said.

Visit bigbear.com/care-for-big-bear to learn more about the campaign.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled Abby Melnick's name. This has been corrected. (February 1, 2021)