In June 2018, grizzly bears were listed as “a species of special concern” under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) in June 2018.
Now, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is working on a Management Plan for
Grizzly Bear and its habitat in Canada.
In 2012, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) added grizzlies as special concern in 2012 due to international and regional population declines and pre-listing consultations were undertaken in 2013.
Currently, the Federal government is reaching out to stakeholders to develop the approach that will be used to create the Management Plan.
Grizzlies are not currently considered threatened or endangered, and the hope is that this management plan will prevent them from becoming so.
According to a document sent out from ECCC, “the management plan will be an overarching federal document that describes voluntary management practices, broad strategies and conservation measures for this species across its range in Canada.”
The management plan will include a description of the needs of grizzly bears, threats to their survival, as well as a historical background and steps to measure overall progress in addressing the threats to the species.
“The Grizzly Bear Management Plan will be developed in close collaboration with the appropriate provinces, territories, and Indigenous organizations,” says the document. “ECCC recognizes the cultural, ecological, and economic significance of Grizzly Bears for Indigenous
people and other Canadians and understands the importance of working together in an effort to safeguard this iconic species’ well-being. The intent is for the Grizzly Bear Management Plan to reflect well-established Indigenous, provincial, and territorial conservation and management approaches and plans.”
Over the last 200 or so years, grizzly’s territory has declined by half. Grizzly populations have been extirpated in the interior of southern British Columbia, the prairies of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the Ungava region of Labrador and northern Quebec. In North America, much of the habitat left is in the Northwest—Alberta, BC, the Yukon and Alaska.
Grizzlies are highly sensitive to human disturbance and, in early spring, like to hang out around road, leading to many deaths due to vehicle strikes.
While there is much uncertainty around how many grizzly bears there are, a recent estimate places that number at around 26,000, about 15,000 of which are estimated to live in BC.
There is no evidence of a decline in the overall population during the past 20 years, but the population appears to be expanding northward, while populations in the southern ranges of BC and Alberta are declining, potentially due to increased fragmentation as more and more human activity takes place.
Grizzlies have naturally low reproductive rates, which increases concern for the species, and with development increasing in remote areas of British Columbia, many have raised concerns about the future of BC’s grizzly bear populations.
In 1995, the B.C. government publicly committed to maintain healthy grizzly bear populations and the ecosystems that they depend on in its Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy. That responsibility was shared between the ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO) and Environment (MoE).
Two years ago, The Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia released a report which found that the BC Government hadn’t fulfilled many of its commitments, including creating a grizzly bear management plan and the implementation of a recovery plan in the North Cascades. Also absent was an inventory and monitoring strategy of grizzly bears in B.C. and clear policies for bear viewing.
“While government has undertaken activities to conserve grizzly bears,” says the report, “some of their commitments have gone unfulfilled. These include identifying and securing key grizzly bear habitats, creating a grizzly bear management plan and implementing a recovery plan for the North Cascades grizzly bear population.”
Shortly after the report came out, the British Columbia government put an end to grizzly bear trophy hunting across the province and halted all hunting of grizzlies in the Great Bear Rainforest. About 250 bear were killed each year by hunters.
The report, though, points out that hunting is not the key issue to Grizzly Bear Management. “The greatest threat to grizzly bears is not hunting, but rather, human activities that degrade grizzly bear habitat.”
For instance, the report says, there are 600,000 km of resource roads with on the order of 10,000 km more added each year. “This expansion allows greater human access into wilderness areas, which results in increased illegal killing of grizzly bears, and greater human-bear conflicts. Yet, long-promised resource road legislation that could address this risk is not yet in place.”
