FIELD – In a bid to keep bears safer as they feast on roadside greenery, a no-stopping zone along a dangerous stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park is being implemented Thursday afternoon ahead of the busy May long weekend.
The 10-kilometre no-stopping zone, combined with a reduced speed limit of 70km/h, stretches from Sherbrooke Creek near the Alberta-B.C. border to the Takakkaw Falls turnoff at Yoho Valley Road just east of Field – where several blacks bears and a rare white grizzly bear have been hanging out.
“We're just starting to see an uptick in bear activity on the Field Hill just in the last few days,” said Seth Cherry, a Parks Canada wildlife ecologist for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay field unit.
“There’s some dandelions and other attractive vegetation along the ditches that do attract bears to that area and we see them concentrating there more than in other areas in our field unit.”
Golden-Field RCMP and Parks Canada’s law enforcement wardens will be enforcing the restriction and reduced speed zone.
Penalties for violations range from a $115 ticket to a mandatory court appearance and maximum fine of $25,000. Speeds of more than 40 km/h above the posted limit in Yoho National Park can result in vehicle impoundment.
“We’ll also have our resource conservation wildlife management staff in the area managing wildlife and ensuring that no jams are occurring,” said Cherry, noting the wildlife team has hazed a couple of black bears off the highway on a limited basis.
Cherry said the light-coloured grizzly bear, which was fitted with a GPS collar last summer, has been spending time in the area, though quite a bit less roadside than in previous years.
“We’ve been monitoring her collar locations,” he said.
Parks Canada is also in the process of installing an electrical strand of wire on the wildlife exclusion fence near the Alberta-B.C. border at the Continental Divide to prevent bears from climbing over to the fence.
The white grizzly frequently climbed the fence last year to get to lush vegetation beside the highway, causing traffic jams and putting herself in harm’s way.
While Parks Canada does not typically intervene, the wildlife team decided to keep her safer by capturing and releasing her within a more remote area of her home range in June, but away from the dangerous Trans-Canada Highway and Canadian Pacific Railway line.
At the time, she was fitted with a GPS collar which allows wildlife staff to better anticipate when she will appear alongside the roadway. So far, she hasn’t been climbing the wildlife exclusion fence again.
“We haven’t seen any of that behaviour this year,” said Cherry.
“But we’re working on putting a strand of electrical wire along that fence and we’ll have it activated in the coming days to hopefully prevent her and other bears from climbing the highway fence.”
This stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway took a deadly toll on bears last year.
A female grizzly, which was the sister of the white bear, was struck and killed on the highway near the Lake O’Hara turnoff on June 7, 2022, while a male grizzly bear that had been seen in the company of the white bear and its sibling earlier in the breeding season was killed June 11.
John Marriott, a wildlife photographer and conservationist who earlier this week called on Parks Canada to implement the no-stopping and reduced speed zone immediately, welcomed news that action was being taken to protect bears, particularly the treasured white grizzly.
“I’m thrilled that they’re taking this proactive measure,” said Marriott.
“It may very well be the difference between life and death for that bear.”
Bear experts have said the white bear is not albino – mutations of certain genes that affect the amount of melanin, which controls the pigmentation of skin, eyes and hair. It is likely that the rare colour is caused by a recessive gene that makes her fur white.
While there were hopes the female grizzly might emerge from the den with cubs this year, that is not the case.
“She’s certainly reaching that age where, physiologically, she would be able to have cubs,” said Cherry.
“But this spring, she has not been observed with cubs so far, so we don’t think she has cubs this year.”
Another high-profile collared grizzly bear in the region, bear No. 142, is out and about in the Lake Louise region with her yearling cub.
Believed to be about 13 years old, the mamma grizzly was seen feeding on a mountain goat carcass, forcing the closure of an area of the Plain of Six Glaciers trail earlier this week. That closure will likely be lifted by the end of the week.
It is not known if the grizzly bear predated on the mountain goat, or if she dragged it from a nearby avalanche path.
“We put in a temporary closure just to give her time to feed on that carcass and wouldn't be disturbed,” said Cherry.
“It’s such an important source of nutrition and energy for a mother and cub this time of year."
Grizzly bear 142 emerged from the den with three cubs in tow in 2022, but two of them were likely killed by bear 136, also known as Split Lip for his disfigured mouth.
Split Lip had been seen chasing the cubs near Lake Louise on the night of June 22, and in the following days, bear 142 was seen with only one cub.
Cherry said he is not aware of any other female grizzlies with new cubs out of the den yet.
“It is pretty early, and those new moms that have new cubs often stay up high until later in the year,” he said.
All residents and visitors are asked to report wildlife incidents to Parks Canada dispatch at 403-762-1470.
