Alberta grizzly bear threatened
Habitat loss, licensed hunting and poaching reducing numbers
by Ken Barth, "Save the Grizzly Bear" Campaigner
"Alive, the grizzly is a symbol of freedom and understanding, a sign that man can learn to conserve what is left of the earth... In its beleaguered condition, it is above all a symbol of what man is doing to the entire planet." - Frank Craighead, author of Track of the Grizzly Photo: Wayne Lynch
The Alberta grizzly bear and its majestic wilderness home are vanishing.
Increasing commercial development in grizzly habitat are pushing the bear to the edge of existence. A proposed resort in Kananaskis Country, a coal mine near Mountain Park and oil and gas development in the Whaleback are a few such examples. Burgeoning agriculture and motorized vehicle recreation are also destroying habitat, which in turn kills bears.
Parks no refuge
Our national parks offer little refuge. Tourism development within the parks is pushing grizzlies into more remote areas. In 1993, grizzly bear biologist Mike Gibeau found more than 40 percent of Banff National Park was either at the maximum human disturbance level the bears could tolerate, or was unable to support them entirely.
David Mattson, a United States National Biological Service bear expert, told the Globe and Mail last year that Banff National Park has become a "sink" rather than a source of grizzlies -- that means more grizzlies are dying in the park than are born there.
Licensed spring hunting further threatens grizzlies along all the national mountain parks' edges as the bears range freely across these boundaries (see map, page 2). In 1995, the Alberta government issued 169 hunting licences resulting in 11 dead grizzlies. For 1996, the province plans to issue 165 more. Within only 500 to 800 grizzlies left and a provincial management goal of 1,000 bears, there's no justification for the hunt.
A mother grizzly and her two-year-old cub stand erect in a meadow to keep an eye on a nearby male grizzly. Many people find the numerous behavioral similarities between grizzlies and humans intriguing. Photo:Wayne Lynch
Bleak Future
When you combine habitat loss with trophy hunting, poaching, "self-defense" kills by people, natural and accidental deaths, the grizzlies' future looks bleak.
Loss and fragmentation of habitat also isolate grizzly populations and so threaten the genetic viability. Conservation biologists emphasize the importance of genetic variation to a species' survival because interbreeding within a single group tends to produce smaller, weaker animals.
Another study by Gibeau for the 1995 Eastern slopes Grizzly Bears Project suggests a recent genetic bottleneck between the Eastern slopes and Northern Continental Divide populations. Without adequate travel corridors between the two groups, these grizzlies will not thrive.
And much study is left to be done. To ensure the bear's survival well into the next century, we must learn more about them and sacrifice some of our demands on their terrain.
The grizzly is the ultimate symbol of the Canadian wilderness. It would be unforgivable if our blind economic agendas relegate it to zoos, books, film and memory.
A real "Alberta Advantage" would be a legacy of the great bear and its wild landscapes.
