Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Project

Note: You can also download a PDF version of this report.
NEW FEATURE: Table of Contents links and Table links are activated in this file (HTML format).

Year 8 - 2001

EASTERN SLOPES GRIZZLY BEAR PROJECT

A progress report for 2001

Prepared for the Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Steering Committee

This paper contains preliminary results of an on-going study and should not be cited without permission from the authors.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
STUDY AREA
METHODS
RESULTS
WEBSITE
POPULATION STUDIES
CAPTURE
TELEMETRY DATA SET
POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS
LITERATURE CITED

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Grizzly bear capture data in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 2001

Table 2. Status of all grizzly bears captured in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, as of November 2001

Table 3. Unduplicated grizzly bear females with cubs of the year in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 1993 - 2001

Table 4. Number of unduplicated females with cubs of the year (COY), and 6 year running averages in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 1993 - 2001

Table 5. Reproductive status of known female grizzly bears in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 2001

Table 6. Summary of grizzly bear mortalities in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 1993 - 2001

Table 7. Summary of grizzly bear translocations in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 1993 – 2001

Table 8. Summary of known grizzly bear mortalities and removals by jurisdiction and activity in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 1993-2001

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A very successful seventh field season would not have been possible without the dedication of field biologists S. Ciancone, C. Hague, M. Koppang and S. Stevens. Their efforts were augmented through the largely volunteer support of C. Campbell. Assistance in coordination of field staff was provided by A. Dibb, S. Donelon and T. Hurd. Trapping was conducted by C. Mamo, the Banff National Park Warden Service and Alberta Natural Resources Service. Veterinary care was provided by Dr. Todd Shury. Several Alberta Conservation Officers and Banff National Park Wardens provided invaluable safety backup, field assistance and logistical support through all stages of monitoring. Exemplary flying skills were provided by Alpine Helicopters of Canmore and fixed wing pilot M. Dupuis of Wildlife Observation Air Services.

The Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Steering Committee helped implement and guided this research. All steering committee participants contribute either money, time or both toward the objectives. Through the Steering Committee, governments, industry, business and conservation groups work together to support this project. The supporters include:

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

During 2001 our research continued to focus on gathering basic reproductive and mortality data for analysis of demographic parameters. Another important research question we focused on is how do grizzly bear's spatial and temporal use patterns differ in areas of high human presence compared to areas with low human presence in a landscape, some of which is dominated by tourism activities? Our situation is unique in that no other grizzly bear study area in North America has both a high volume transcontentinal highway and railway dissecting occupied grizzly bear habitat along with intensive tourism. Analysis has never been done on the effects of such levels of human presence on grizzly bears. One important question is the extent to which the Bow River Valley continues to function as a major movement corridor for bears providing connectivity between habitats.

The overall goal of ESGBP research is to understand how developments and human-induced mortality impact grizzly bears. Specific research objectives include:

1. Determine the basic demographic parameters for the grizzly bear population within the study area.

2. Detect spatial and temporal activity patterns of bears given various levels of human influences.

Determine how the distribution of humans affects a bear's ability to use the landscape.

Determine if population connectivity is being impeded by major transportation corridors.

Determine what adjustments to human activities would give bears better access to resources.

6. Suggest management alternatives for integrating land uses compatible with bear habitat and survival needs for the study area.

STUDY AREA

The area of interest remains unchanged from year 1 with the approximately 11,400 km² Bow River Watershed, from its headwaters to approximately where it meets the prairies, as the core study area. The greater study area defined by the movement of radio-collared bears is about 22,000 km² or roughly twice the size of the core study area. At the largest scale our research encompasses the 42,000 km² Central Rockies Ecosystem (Komex International 1995).

METHODS

Methods for both the capture and monitoring of bears remain unchanged from the detailed description found in the year 1 progress report (Gibeau and Herrero 1995). Approximately 25 grizzly bears per year have active radio‑collars. These bears are monitored from air and ground wherever they go and our budget permits. Aerial monitoring gives infrequent, but relatively unbiased data regarding location. This facilitates understanding of home range, movements and habitat use. Ground‑based research allows intensive monitoring of grizzly bear activities related to development features such as towns, highways, campgrounds and trails. Mortality is monitored using both aerial and ground‑based telemetry. The radio‑telemetry monitoring area includes lands under several different jurisdictions. In the British Columbia portion of these lands, where some of our radio‑collared grizzly bears are found, there is the Columbia Mountains Bear Research Project which provides complementary data and will allow a broader ecosystem versus provincial boundary‑based understanding of grizzly bears in the Central Rockies Ecosystem.

RESULTS

WEBSITE

Most of the ESGBP publications plus considerable other related material can be found on this, the ESGBP website, and is available for downloading. Go to the Research Publications Section.

POPULATION STUDIES

CAPTURE

A concerted effort to deploy GPS radio collars in Canmore and the Lake Louise areas was the only planned trapping in 2001. Three additional grizzly bears were captured during management actions (Table 1).

Table 1. Grizzly bear capture data in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 2001.

* certainty code a= +/- 0 years, b= +/- 1-2 years, c= +/- 2-3 years

TELEMETRY DATA SET

Aerial and ground monitoring from early April until the first week of November produced 2456 point locations for the 2001 field season. Of these 341 (14 %) were from the air and 2115 (86%) from ground monitoring. Aerial locations were biased toward early morning hours. Ground locations were biased towards where observers could travel easily.

Since the project began in May 1994 a total of 65 individuals have been handled (Table 2). Of those, 17 have died, and 23 are currently radio collared. The sex/age breakdown of the current radio collared sample is as follows:

14 adult females 5 adult males

2 subadult females 2 subadult male

Table 2. Status of all grizzly bears captured in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, as of November 2001.

¹ D = dependent, SA = subadult, AD = adult (>5 years old)

² certainty code from tooth analysis: a = +/- 0 years, b = +/- 1-2 years, c = +/- 2-3 years

³ (a) High probability that disappearance was related to death, (b) High probability that disappearance was unrelated to death, (c) No indication of which of the above 2 choices is more likely

POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS

Observations from the research team as well as records from Banff National Park and Alberta Natural Resources Service established a minimum unduplicated count of females with cubs for the year (Table 3). Over time, a minimum count of sows with cubs (Table 4) can be established and used as a trend indicator (Knight et al. 1995).

Table 3. Unduplicated grizzly bear females with cubs of the year in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 1993 - 2001.

Table 4. Number of unduplicated females with cubs of the year (COY), and 6 year running averages in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 1993 - 2001.

Reproductive success of radio collared females was determined through year to year visual observations between 1994 and 2001 (Table 5). Year to year cub survivorship can be tracked by referring to the table and comparing the number of cubs observed in a given year to the previous years observations. Reproductive data from collared females is being be used to construct an estimate of whether the sample population is increasing or decreasing.

Table 5. Reproductive status of known female grizzly bears in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta, 2001.