Introduction
The following provides a contextual background of the ways GIS is currently being used in the province to represent Grizzly Bear (Ursos arctos) habitat and population estimates. Over the past decade the central coast has received an extraordinarily high level of international and domestic attention over issues of forest conservation. The region is also home to some of the largest in tact temperate old growth forests in the world and is economically dependent upon the extraction of this timber. Central coast communities have been harmed by ongoing land-use disputes, market campaigns and resource industry adjustments (MoSRM, 2002). Rich valley bottoms in the Coastal Western Hemlock Zone are important grizzly bear habitat (MoF-2001) and also offer the most valuable lumber (MacHutchon, 1993). This has led to a conflict between conservation strategies and resource extractive industries who are both currently re-mapping the coast to include intrinsic values, ecosystem function and consumptive values (Clapp, 2002). The derivation of population estimates for ascertaining the Annual Allowable Harvest of grizzly bears is also quite controversial. Increasingly, GIS is being used to assist in these spatial analyses and to assist the decision making process where multiple criteria are assessed.Debate among government, industry and environmental representatives over the issue of conservation of an area within the temperate rainforest of BC as a sanctuary for Grizzly Bears has been undertaken for years with no resolution (Davradou, 2001). All actors agree of the need to manage for the sustainability of grizzly bear populations, but they disagree over how to actualize this goal. Disagreements center over the management and/or protection of low-elevation old-growth habitat and the issue of sustainable mortality. Davradou (2001) applies this controversial issue to a range of ethical theories and reveals that they agree on the need for protection of habitat but disagree on whether the protection of the last surviving grizzly bears should out weigh the interests of cultural needs of humans. The divide centers on ideological differences but it is the science and the creation of habitat and population models that are politically open to scrutiny.
Hunting of Grizzly Bears
In February, 2001, the former NDP government stated a moratorium on grizzly hunting until it could be ascertained that the population of these bears in British Columbia’s Coast Mountains was not threatened. Less than a year later, the current Liberal government lifted this moratorium and the grizzly hunt resumed this spring. A basis for the repeal was that the population of grizzly’s was healthy and that economic incentives of local communities coupled with the killing of ‘problem bears’ warranted the decision. A key set of information that influenced this decision were estimates of grizzly bear populations of 10,000-13,000, produced as part of the LCMP plan for the central and north coast, were far higher than previously anticipated (Austin, 2002).
Grizzly Bears are listed as Big Game under the provincial Wildlife Act. All grizzly bear hunting is regulated through the Limited Entry Hunting (LEH) for residents and Guide Outfitter Quotas (GOQ) for non-residents. Appropriate levels determined by wildlife biologists based on population models reflecting data from compulsory hunter returns, field inventories and research and the Fuhr-Demarchi habitat suitability models. The calculation of current habitat suitability is based upon a GIS model that assigns densities to various habitat types by using classes that are scaled against a benchmark density derived from known research areas such as the Khuzamateen or Flat Head studies. The estimated impacts of human-caused mortality are then deducted from the habitat potential to arrive at a “stepped down” population est. range (Austin, 2002).
Current News
To read the full article click on the following link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/grizzly-bears-overhunted-in-b-c-say-researchers-1.2417306
