The grizzly bear population in Alberta’s west central region appears to have doubled in the past 10 years.
According to a survey conducted last year, there were 74 grizzly bears in a region referred to as bear management area No. 3 – a 9,650 square kilometre area in the foothills east of Jasper National Park. That’s up from 36 bears in a 2004 survey.
Officials say it’s important to note that this population estimate is for just one region, noting there are six others. One other area in the southern part of the province south of Highway 3 has also seen an increase in bear numbers of about three per cent a year.
Gordon Stenhouse, research scientist at fRI, formerly known as Foothills Research Institute, said the numbers in bear management area No. 3 represent about a seven per cent increase, higher than what is commonly seen in most interior North American populations.
“We normally expect grizzly bear populations in North America to expand 3.3 to 3.5 per cent a year, and so seven per cent is very unusual,” said Stenhouse.
Grizzly bears have been listed as threatened in Alberta since 2010 after studies concluded there were fewer than 700 grizzlies in the entire province. The low numbers led to a recovery plan, which is in the process of being updated.
Researchers cannot say why the bear population has increased in this region, which covers an area south of Highway 16 between Jasper on the west approximately to Highway 22 on the east, and extending as far south as Highway 11.
Stenhouse said more study is needed to understand the effects different management actions have had on the population, noting the hunting moratorium that has been in place since 2006 has reduced human-caused bear mortality.
However, he said, there have also been 30 “problem” bears relocated into the area.
“Over the last years the provincial government has relocated 30 problems bears into that unit. Those are bears that might be from areas with agricultural conflicts such as killing cattle or other conflicts,” said Stenhouse.
“It’s difficult right now to identify how much of the increase is related to a natural increase and how much of it is related to population augmentation, of bringing bears into this area.”
Grizzly bear population estimates, which involved DNA analysis of grizzly bear hair and a robust statistical model, was led by fRI and prepared for Alberta Parks and Environment and Jasper National Park, as well as logging companies Weyerhaeuser Ltd. and West Fraser Mills Ltd.
Researchers also came up with an estimate for the White Goat Wilderness Area of 10 grizzly bears.
In addition, the research team did its first inventory of Jasper National Park, which included the entire 7,063 square kilometre portion of the park south of Highway 16 to the border with Banff National Park.
There are an estimated 54 bears in that area.
“Assuming that bear density is the same as it was when the northern half of the park was studied in 2008, we estimate there are 113 bears throughout Jasper National Park,” said Stenhouse.
The grizzly bear inventory report has been sent to the province, which expects to have its updated grizzly bear recovery plan out for public input later this fall. A final decision on the strategy is not expected until next spring.
Paul Frame, Alberta’s provincial carnivore specialist, said he agrees more work needs to be done to see what kind of effect the relocation of bears into bear management area No. 3 has had on the boost in numbers there.
He said many of the approximately 30 bears relocated into that area came from bear management area No. 6, south of Highway 3 in southern Alberta.
“We need to look more closely at what contributions those translocations have had. If that is part of the reason why we’ve seen the increase, I think then that’s a viable management strategy for a threatened species,” he said.
“The majority of bears that get relocated do come from BMA No. 6, that’s south of Highway 3. Bears move between Montana, Alberta and British Columbia and that population, we know, is increasing. We’ve moved a lot of bears from BMA No. 6 and BMA No. 6 is still increasing.”
Frame said the province has no plans currently to reinstate the grizzly bear hunt.
“There’s a segment of the population that calls for that and there’s another segment that calls against that,” he said.
“At some point, we will look at the ecological viability of reinstating a grizzly bear hunt, but whether or not we ever hunt grizzly bears ever again in Alberta will probably be a political and public decision.”
Frame also said the province only has population estimates for two of the seven bear management areas.
He said work is currently being done in bear management area No. 5, an area south of Calgary to north of the Crowsnest Pass, which is expected to be completed by 2017. Funding has also been secured to count bears in the Chinchaga region in northwest Alberta.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done before we have good solid numbers,” Frame said.
For the count in bear management area No. 3, field crews used a scent lure, made of rotten cattle blood mixed with canola oil, poured onto piles of branches and moss, to attract bears.
The scent lure encouraged bears to climb under or over barbed wire set up around the bait. Every two weeks, a field crew checked the sites to collect hair samples from the barbed wire and refresh the scent lure.
In Jasper National Park, researchers also used rub trees – known spots that bears come to – as sites to collect hair.
Field crews went to 197 sites in bear management area 3 and another 74 in Jasper National Park to collect grizzly bear hair samples. DNA hairs were then sent to the lab and used to identify individual bears.
“This prevents us from counting the same bear twice and lets us track a bear’s movements if it leaves hair at more than one site,” said Stenhouse.
“It also allows us to identify family relationships, sex and other characteristics to better understand the population.”
Next, researchers used a robust statistical model which lets them figure out how many bears they were likely to have missed.
“It also tells us how many of the bears that we did detect are likely part of another population and were just visiting our study area,” said Stenhouse. “This gives us the best estimate of the current population in the area.”
