Bear Hugs for the Alberta Government

The Alberta government announced last Friday that it would be suspending for three years the annual grizzly bear hunt due to fears that the province's bear population is rapidly declining. The government also released the results of grizzly bear population surveys that peg the animal's actual number far below what was previously believed.

Sustainable Resources Development Minister David Coutts said Friday that the grizzly bear's decline is "something that is within our power to change, and we can do it immediately."

To combat the bear's dwindling numbers, the government will initiate conservation projects including public education, addressing land management issues and completing a population survey. It has not, however, announced plans to put the grizzly bear on the threatened species list.

"Years ago, there was a fall hunt and that was suspended in favour of a spring hunt, and now we're suspending that for the next three years until we get more DNA evidence as to the number of grizzly bears that there are province-wide," said Coutts.

Conservation groups have lobbied the government for years to put an end to the controversial bear hunt.

"Why stopping the hunt is so important is that the bears have a very low reproductive rate," explains Dianne Pachal, Alberta wilderness director of the Sierra club.

Pachal also believes that a drop in the grizzly bear population may mean that the rest of the Albertan ecosystem is suffering. "The grizzly is like a canary in a coal mine, they are an indication that the whole ecosystem may be in danger."

In 2002, the endangered species conservation committee recommended the Alberta government list the grizzly as a threatened species, but the Minister at that time rejected the recommendation. Although the bear was not listed, a recovery act was put in place. The government also began a comprehensive study of the population based on DNA data.

"Our concern was that while the minister said the he would do all these things instead of listing the bear [as a threatened species], the results of these studies were kept secret," says Defenders of Wildlife Canada's Jim Pissot. "Late last year we began to accuse the government of hiding information."

That information is now being released. One study showed a shocking decline of bears in the area between highway 11 and highway 16. Where the population was estimated at 147 in 2002, the DNA survey revealed that the actual number was closer to 53.

Nigel Douglas, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) says roads are a major factor in the grizzly bear's decline.

"The number one driving force behind the grizzly bear's problem is the growing industrial access" he says. "Roads in Grizzly bear country leads to dead grizzly bears"

Pissot agrees. "Most studies have shown that virtually every grizzly bear killed by a person was within 500 meters of a road…I think one of the first things we can do is monitor road placement.

Conservationists are hopeful the issue may be addressed by consolidating road access with more road sharing among different industries instead of each oil and gas company making its own roads.

"There are good companies and bad companies," says Douglas with the AWA. Douglas notes that many companies would like to reduce their impact on the land but the general business climate in Alberta would put them at a competitive disadvantage.

However, even with the threat grizzlies are currently facing, conservationists are hopeful that Friday's announcement is a step in the right direction.

"I think the minister took a major, major step on Friday," said Pissot, referring to release of bear population data and the decision to stop the bear hunt.

"One doesn't make a whole change at once; you have to do it in little steps, so we are going to be encouraging the minister to keep those steps going, to walk the talk. I'm putting my faith in the minister that he is going to continue to do the right thing".