Maintaining Viability of Brown Bears Along the Southern Fringe of Their Distribution

MAINTAININGVIABILITY OF BROWNBEARS ALONGTHE SOUTHERNFRINGE OF THEIRDISTRIBUTION BRUCEN. McLELLAN,British Columbia Ministry of Forests Research Branch,RPO #3, Box 9158, Revelstoke,BC VOE3KO, Canada, email: [email protected] Abstract: In North America, threatenedbrown bears (Ursusarctos) and brown bear recovery are usually viewed as United States' issues. Most of the southern fringe of brown bear distribution,however, is in Canada;approximately 3,050 km of occupied-unoccupied fringe are in British Columbiaand 1,570 km are in Albertacompared to 1,700 km in the lower 48 states. The distributionof brown bears in southernCanada has been poorly documentedand publicized but, in additionto their inherentvalue, these bears are critical to the viability of brown bears in the U.S. In this paperI presenta British Columbianview of brown bears along their southernfringe and humaninfluences relatedto industry,settlement, hunting, and fragmentation. I also describe scales of land-use planningin British Columbiaand the consensus process on which they are developed. Even with well intendedplans, maintainingbrown bear numbersand distributionis an increasinglydifficult challenge because human populationsare rapidly growing in and adjacentto brown bear range. Given the increase in people, humanbehavior will have to change to accommodatebears, and changing human behavior will involve reducing individualrights and privileges that are enjoyed in western North America. Ursus 10:607-611 Key words: Alberta, British Columbia, brown bear, fragmentation,hunting, industry,land-use planning, settlement, Ursus arctos. Although details were poorly recordedand what was tied States. Their distributionin 4 separate areas of once known has died with memories, the general de- the lower 48 states has been well documented by the mise of the brown bear (Ursusarctos) in North America U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (1993) and well pub- is well documented (Storer and Tevis 1955, Brown licized in the literatureand media. Comparedto their 1985). When pioneers of Europeandescent settled the distribution in the U.S., brown bear occurrence in West, brown bears were viewed as a threatto be sought southern Canada has been poorly documented and out and destroyed. Within a century,brown bears were publicized. The lack of documentation and publicity either eliminated or their populations greatly reduced is unfortunatebecause southernbrown bears in Canada wherever people and their livestock had settled. In are as important as those in the U.S. and because rugged mountains with dense underbrushand in most without viable Canadian populations, brown bears in northernareas, permanenthuman settlementand ranch- the U.S., would be even more vulnerable. ing were rare. Although the early loggers, miners, and I discuss current conditions of brown bear popu- railroadersthat struggledinto inhospitableareas treated lations, their habitat, and human influences along the bears in much the same way as did the ranchers,their southern fringe of their distribution from a British effects on bear populations were often more localized Columbian perspective. I also discuss critical issues in space and time. Fortunatelyfor brown bears, many facing southern brown bears and various scales of areas that were inhospitableduring the last centuryhave land-use planning in British Columbia that will have remained largely unsettled today; in some of these ar- important ramifications for the species' persistence eas, brown bears have persisted. in southern Canada and the lower 48 states. Today, human values are gradually changing. Al- I thank T. Hamilton, S. Herrero, F. Hovey, and J. though pioneer values remain common, particularlyin Schoen for their careful review of this manuscript. people who reside in ruralareas of the North and West, T. Hamilton, F. Hovey, and numerous other biolo- increasing numbers of people view naturallyfunction- gists assisted with delineating and mapping brown ing ecosystems as treasuresto be maintainedfor their bear distribution. own intrinsic value and for future generations. Even with changing values toward wildlife, the low density and often fragmentedbrown bear populationsalong the DISTRIBUTIONOF BROWN BEARS southern and southeastern fringe of their distribution ALONGTHE SOUTHERN FRINGE are at a crossroads. The decisions we make in the Excluding Alaska, the largest populations of brown next few decades will determinethe differencebetween bears in the U.S. are found in the 23,300-km2 Yel- the inevitable extirpationof some southernbrown bear lowstone Ecosystem and the 24,800-km2 Northern populations or their continued persistence. Continental Divide Ecosystem (U.S. Fish and Wildl. In North America, threatenedbrown bears and brown Serv. 1993). There are fewer bears in the 2,800- bear recovery are usually viewed as issues for the Un- km2 Selkirk Ecosystem and very few in the Cabi- 608 Ursus 10:1998 net-Yaak Ecosystem that covers 5,100 km2. If any Brown bears are present at low densities over an area brown bears remain in the North Cascade Ecosys- of approximately25,000 km2in the CoastMountains from tem and the Bitteroot Ecosystem, they are extremely Chilco Lake south to the Nahatlatchdrainage. Thereis a rare. Brown bears are listed as threatened in the small, likely isolated populationof brownbears in and to U.S. south of Canada under the U.S. Endangered the north of Manning Provincial Park. Some of these Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544). bearscould use the NorthCascades Ecosystem in the U.S. Most of the southernfringe of brownbear range, how- There are no brown bears east of Manning Park for al- ever, is not in the lower 48 states but in Canada(Fig. 1). most 200 km, forcing the southernfringe of brown bear If occupied brown bear habitatis defined as areas where range northwardabout 400 km beyond Prince George, at least 1 female with offspringhas been observed in the BritishColumbia, until it moves south again on the east- past 5 years, there is approximately3,050 km of occu- ern edge of the interiorplateau. pied-unoccupied fringe in British Columbia. The east- Relatively healthybrown bear populations occur in the ern fringe in Alberta is approximately1,570 km long, mountainranges of easternBritish Columbia. The breadth runningthe length of the province, while in the lower 48 of theirdistribution, however, narrows towards the south, states there is approximately1,700 km of fringe. and at the U.S. borderonly the populationin the Rocky There is no evidence that brown bears ever occupied Mountainscan be classified as healthy. Bears live at low the Queen CharlotteIslands or VancouverIsland of Brit- density in the Yahk and SouthernSelkirk Mountainsof ish Columbia. On the mainlandcoast, they are relatively BritishColumbia and a small and perhapsisolated popu- abundantfrom Alaska south to Bute Inlet, althoughthey lation remainsin the Kettle and Granbydrainages. arealso foundin lower numbersat the headwatersof Toba The easternfringe of brownbears is found in Montana and Jervis inlets and the upperportions of the Squamish and in Albertaclose to where the foothills of the Rockies River. meet the GreatPlains. A low-densitypopulation of bears extends to the Swan Hills of centralAlberta (Nagy and Gunson 1990). 0|1I Medium to High Densities Low Densities PEOPLEAND BROWNBEARS ALONG THE SOUTHERNFRINGE It is clear thathumans have been and remainthe domi- nant factor limiting brown bear distributionand popula- tion densities over most of their range, and in particular along the southernand eastern fringe. It is along this AB fringe, however, that human numbers are increasing quickly. In 1971, British Columbia had 2.25 million people and Alberta 1.63 million, but by the end of 1995, their populationswere estimatedto be 3.82 million and 2.78 million, respectively (Alberta Bureau of Statistics 1992, BC Stats 1994, StatisticsCanada Telecommunica- tion Serv., Ottawa,Ont. April, 1996). Although the rate of increaseis expectedto decrease,the populationof Brit- ish Columbia is predicted to reach 5 million by 2014; Albertashould reach 3 million early in the next millennia 2) (AlbertaBureau of Statistics1992, BC Stats 1994). MT (Fig. Most of this growth will likely be in urbancenters and valleys along the edge of brown bear range. A similar ID - WY patternis happeningin Montana;Flathead County is situ- WY ated next to the NorthernContinental Divide Ecosystem and has the second fastest growth rate of any county in the U.S. (R. Mace, Mont. Dep. Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Fig. 1. Current distribution of brown bears including Kalispell, Montana,pers. commun., 1995). The recov- portions with very low density. ery of brown bear populationsas the humanpopulation INVITEDPAPER * SOUTHERNBROWN BEARS * McLellan 609 5,500 - sectorsand therefore are a commitment --BC amongmany great o - -- Alberta of time and resourcesand results are never ideal for o 5,000 any 0 T- single resource. Productsinclude maps at the 1:100,000or x 4,500- 1:250,000scale resource zones with - depicting management 0 4,0004,000 *_ censused a variety of guidelines dependingon negotiatedresource 3,500 emphasesfor each zone (Provinceof B.C. 1995a). Once 3,000 endorsedby government,LRMPs guide lower level plans, ro includingcoordinated access managementplans, protected 2,500 projected E areasystem plans, and the ForestPractices Code, whichhas 2,000 -v specific landscapeand stand-levelprescriptions for brown 1,500l. bearsin certainareas. : 19500 .- Og, F5 .,9o *- ., ,i,, ,z5,i, i, , , os , <:O lb b Z- 2\r ,i, lg HumanSettlement and Agriculture

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