The time has come for provincial wildlife managers to take a critical look at their policies and change them to reflect a more current and multi-jurisdictional approach to managing species like grizzly bears in places like the Bow Valley.
This valley is a patchwork quilt of jurisdictions and land managers – from Parks Canada to the west and Fish and Wildlife and Alberta Parks to the east. There are federal lands, provincial lands, municipal lands and private lands all being managed with different priorities.
Well, enough is enough.
Take a look at the bear relocation and mortality numbers for Canmore over the past 20 years and compare them with Banff National Park (story on page 7).
Provincial wildlife managers in Canmore have killed or relocated 100 bears in that time. Of those, one was a grizzly bear and that was bear 148 last summer. Her relocation was soon followed by news of her death in B.C. as part of a legal hunt.
Parks Canada, on the other hand, has killed or relocated only six bears in the same timeframe.
Without getting bogged down in the breakdown of those numbers, even at a high level they are extremely concerning because the only thing that differentiates the two agencies from one another is a line on a map. Federal and provincial agencies are managing the same animals on the same landscape – it is just the approach that differs.
Now that we have 28 recommendations from a roundtable on human-wildlife coexistence, it is clear the Province, more than any other level of government, has the most work to do in order to affect change.
It is time for the Province to recognize that having two separate agencies for managing wildlife is inefficient, confusing and creates conflict between different policies and protocols. Fish and Wildlife manage all wildlife that step foot inside Canmore’s town limits. But if they step over that invisible line again – they are the responsibility of Alberta Parks officials.
It is time for the Province to recognize relocating or killing bears that step foot in Canmore is not conducive to keeping these animals on our landscape or in having a coordinated approach with federal partners.
It is also time for the Province to deal with Canmore’s feral rabbit population. The abdication of this responsibility dates back more than a decade and has seen the municipality forced into the role of managing a program to reduce numbers in the community.
That is not the municipality’s jurisdiction or responsibility – it is the Province’s and using the excuse these critters are of a domesticated stock is irrelevant. They were domestic long ago, but are now an attractant and must be appropriately managed by the Province.
It is time for the Province to use seasonal closures as a regular tool for providing predictability for species like grizzly and black bears on the landscape and better managing people. If a certain area at a certain time of year is prime habitat for bears, then human use can, and must, take a backseat.
It is time for the Province to put its money where its mouth is
as well.
The changes put forward in the 28 recommendations are not without corresponding costs and resources. It is easy to demand or agree with changes to how this issue is managed, but a lot harder to fund.
Enough is enough. We know what has to change and the time for change is now.
