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.