In order to protect a sow and her three cubs the popular Black Prince backcountry skiing area in Kananaskis will remain closed, yet threats still exist due to the presence of skiers and off-leash dogs.
The closure was originally put in place on Nov. 20 when Alberta Parks noticed one of its collared grizzlies, bear 94, and her three cubs had set up a den site near the area.
Officials indicated they would monitor the grizzly through its VHF collar to ensure the bear was not disturbed during the initial denning stages.
“She denned actually quite low in the Black Prince area,” said Randy Axani, Kananaskis district conservation officer. “She hasn’t obviously moved from the denning area.
“We were looking for five consecutive days of non-movement and this hasn’t happened,” he continued. “I think the most we’ve had is two days of non-movement and then she’s active.”
When a bear doesn’t move for longer than 24 hours the VHF collar goes on mortality beat, which indicates the bear is in a deep sleep, the conservation officer explained.
“Considering she’s with three little cubs in a den, it’s probably pretty crowded in there,” he added. “She’s still somewhat active.”
Because of this, Alberta Parks decided to continue the closure, however that hasn’t deterred skiers from violating the restriction. As of Jan. 18, Axani said 11 people have been charged for entering the closed area.
In one particular instance, two people skied into the area with four off-leash dogs.
“People know that it’s a popular ski area and because we’ve gone through a bit of a drought snow-wise, that was one area that hadn’t been skied,” he said. “Unfortunately it’s not the right area to be looking for that great line for obvious reasons.”
The fines for not obeying signs and entering a closed area are set at $115 and $287, respectively.
“Where she (bear 94) is located in the cone, it’s in the lower parts so it’s close to where the uptrack usually is to go to the top of the cone and it’s also a skiable area,” he continued.
“The other concern is if there’s a loose dog in there, dogs have very keen noses and there’s nothing stopping a dog going into the den. She might survive being put out in the cold weather, but the cubs certainly wouldn’t.”
The number of cases involving off-leash dogs has increased dramatically in the past five weeks, jumping roughly 275 per cent from last year during the same time period.
“It’s a big concern in the Spray area because we have a lot of moose come down in winter in the valley,” he said. “I’ve witnessed one dog actually chase a moose and then the moose turned and went aggressive towards the dog.
“I think it might be the attitude that during winter we don’t have sensitive wildlife like we do in the summer,” he added. “They don’t realize that in the winter there’s actually a lot of maybe more sensitive wildlife out there.”
Axani did, however, mention that when speaking with most backcountry skiers, they agree with the decision to close the area to protect the bear and her cubs.
In addition to the original closure, officials have also instituted a complete ban on dogs entering that backcountry area and modified the boundaries to the east to allow skiers to use the chutes on the east side of the closure.
The north side of the boundary has been modified as well, which operates as an access point to the cone. Axani said the closure would probably stay in place till spring.
“She probably denned low in the valley because she’s got small cubs and didn’t want to take them up into the high alpine,” he said. “The cubs will be bigger next year and hopefully this will be a non-issue.
“It’s remarkable that she’s carried these three to the den in her first year,” he noted due to the fact a male grizzly killed her last two cubs in 2011. “We generally don’t have bear have that high success rate especially with triplets.”
