Grizzly Bears Essays (4378 words) - Bears, Predation, Apex Predators

Grizzly Bears Grizzly bears in British Columbia represent many things to different people. To a large percentage of the population, they represent all that is still wild about our province, a link to the past before humans came and logged much of the forests, put roads over the mountains, and dammed the rivers. This view of grizzly bears as somewhat of a flagship species is reflected in the naming by environmental groups of the large wilderness area of the Central Coast as the Great Bear Rainforest. Certainly there are many other species that inhabit the coastal rainforests from the Upper Squamish Valley north to the Alaska Panhandle, such as blacktail deer, Pacific salmon, and grey wolves, but it is the grizzly bear that is the symbol that is attached to this area by people the world over. It is the presence of healthy grizzly bear populations that displays a preservation and care for our forests to the world, and it is for this reason that there are strong pressures on those who manage grizzly b ear populations in B.C. to protect them from future declines in population and range. This is a very complex task, as grizzly bears have very strict habitat requirements, and pressure from all sorts of encroaching developments require care to be taken in the planning process. Today in British Columbia grizzly bears do still exist in viable wild populations throughout much of their historic range. Prior to European settlement in British Columbia ca. 1793, grizzly bears ranged throughout the entire mainland of B.C., save for areas of icefield. While much of their historical habitat has been extensively altered, grizzly bears still occupy the coastal areas of mainland B.C. from just north of Powell River all the way to the Alaska Panhandle. The entire northern half of the province contains large tracts of suitable habitat, as do the Rocky, Purcell, and Selkirk Mountains. The central interior plateau area of the province from Quesnel north to Prince George still contains depressed numbe rs of bears, while the Southern Interior and South Coast/Lower Mainland no longer has grizzly bear populations (British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks ,1995). The institution charged with managing grizzly bears in British Columbia is the Wildlife Branch of the Ministry of Environment, Land, and Parks. The Wildlife Branch has an official mandate relating to its management of grizzly bears, which was published in the British Columbia Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy in June of 1995. The mandate that is given is ....to ensure the continued existence of grizzly bears and their habitats for future generations. (British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks,1995). This is a very wide ranging mandate, and when coupled with the first of the four goals stated under the mandate, To maintain in perpetuity the diversity and abundance of grizzly bears and the ecosystems on which they depend throughout British Columbia. (British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks,1995), it is apparent that this is a goal easier said than done. The Wildlife Branch of MELP participates in both the direct management of bear populations (ie. hunting) and in indirect management processes such as land use planning that affects grizzly bear habitats. In direct management processes the Wildlife Branch has more power than in other processes that involve more user groups. Hunting pressures represent the largest direct issue that the Wildlife Branch deals with, and it is with hunting regulations that the Wildlife Branch wields the most power. In 1996, grizzly bear hunting in British Columbia moved to a limited entry basis known as LEH permits, or limited entry hunting permits. This process allows the Wildlife Branch to control how many permits are issued on an annual basis, in theory allowing the total kill to be monitored. This option is available only to residents of British Columbia, while non residents must hire a licensed guide outfitter who has also been issued a permit. According to the Grizzly Bear Harvest Management Policy, released in 1999, harvests are determined as follows: allowable harvest = (max allowable total human caused mortality)-(estimate of unknown human caused mortality)-(estimated known non-hunting human caused mortalities that are predicted to occur based on past experience). The maximum total human caused mortality can