The Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Ecological Reserve Proposal; Rationalizing the Need
The Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Ecological Reserve Proposal; Rationalizing the Need
by Jorma Jyrkkanen
(My original produced 1985 while employed at the BC Fish and Wildlife Branch as Habitat Protection Technician in North Western BC)
by Jorma Jyrkkanen
(My original produced 1985 while employed at the BC Fish and Wildlife Branch as Habitat Protection Technician in North Western BC)
Introduction
If
one is to evaluate whether or not to save this pristine ecosystem along
with its predominantly predatory denizens, one should look at grizzlies
from both near and afar and their relationship to the human population
explosion.
The Cave bear was probably the first to go extinct
due to our activities. One could well imagine primitive Cave People
fighting with these spelluncking denizens with dogs and spears and
thwarting them away at night with fires.
This was direct
competition for habitat at its most basic and the rationale of those
primitive Cave peoples' efforts was human need to live. That was fine
when the human population was sparse, but that has changed.
More
recently, the Atlas bear of North Africa has vanished due to loss of
habitat from excessive logging and poor reforestation coupled to hunting
at excessive levels.
Climatic changes may have been a contributing factor, a component of which may have been human induced.
The Mexican Silver grizzly is now probably extinct.
In
Poland, the Brown bear is holding at around 30 animals and according to
Tadeusz Buchalczyk, there is a necessity of creating extensive less
disturbed areas to return the animals to their former high population.
In Bulgaria, the Brown bear population is stable at around 520 and hunting is prohibited.
In
China, the Panda bear, evolved from primitive Arctos stock is
threatened with extinction today due to loss of bamboo forests related
to human expansion.
In the USA, the grizzly is on the
endangered species list in 48 contiguous states due to hunting and
habitat loss related to the human population explosion. In the past
century, in California, it has declined from an estimated 5000 bears to
perhaps two in a zoo today obtained from Canada.
In Canada,
this bear once hunted over the prairies and may have lived as far east
as Manitoba until quite recent times, but not so today.
In
British Columbia, it was once present in the south Cascades but is now
rare there if not actually extirpated. It is rare if not extirpated in
much of the Okanagan and is most probably declining in all of the major
developed river valleys with salmon runs.
It is holding its
own in parts of BC and Alaska in remote areas and in a few wildlife
management units where there exist vast tracts of habitat or where we
just haven't got to yet with our encroachment.
It is
threatened by expanding rural populations of humans who shoot it when it
comes into conflict with livestock. Many bears lose the use of
developing areas due to their shyness. According to Leland P. Glenn,
adult males using open areas with sparse cover get shot out.
Thus,
those bears that stay in developing areas will be shot out while those
that leave will be pushed into peripheral marginal habitat where they
will probably have lower survival, thus driving the population down in
the face of that development.
Management
Inventories
of grizzlies are expensive and population estimates are currently based
on questionable indirect means, not actual counts. In at least six
management units in the Skeena region, they were over-harvested
according to biologist Ben VanDrimmelen. Thus, in a good proportion of
the region, we don't know what they are doing population-wise for
certain, and in the remainder, they are probably being over-harvested.
Population
trend estimation from hunter success is questionable since in Sweden,
where a small population is thought to be increasing, hunter success is
in fact declining.
Management for a critical average age is
one method proposed for maintaining bear populations by D.M. Johnson
(1980) but it assumes that an adequate sample of the population will be
taken to ensure confidence in the statistic.
This may not be possible with grizzlies because of the low harvest rates and subsequent small sample size per unit area.
This doesn't seem like a sound way to manage a globally declining species in the face of the human population explosion.
Long range habitat and management provisions seem to be needed while there is time and habitat available.
Mark
L. Schaffer (1983) has estimated that the minimum viable population
size to maintain a grizzly population is 50 to 90 animals with about
1000 to 13,500 square kms being required for habitat.
The
Khutzeymateen population is probably less than 50 grizzlies ranging over
540 square kms, less than Schaffer's estimated requirement for a
minimum viable population on half the minimum space.
This
means that this population is sensitive being near the bottom of the
minimum viable population, if Schaffer's estimate is correct.
Research on the long term population impact of logging on bears is far from concluded and many important questions remain.
What is the extinction rate/area relationship for grizzlies with and without hunting?
What is the extinction rate/area relationship with and without hunting with and without logging?
What
habitat manipulation strategies lead to balanced nutrition in bear
populations and if attainable, does it lead to stable population cycles?
Are
grizzlies self-regulating and if so, is it through agonistic behavior
where aggressive and avoidance responses carry out density adjustments
and spacing?
If bears are self regulating, will increasing the
crowding by forcing bears into buffer strips lead to more aggressive
interactions and to increased competition and infanticide or
cannibalism?
Is agonistic regulation if a reality, increased by resource shortages?
The
answers to these questions are particularly applicable to the
Khutzeymateen where the population is near the bottom of the minimum
viable size.
Crowding and habitat shortages have been shown to
induce qualitative changes in other mammal populations and these have
even been suggested as causes of population declines (C. Krebs, 1974).
The
high valley walls and glaciers ringing this watershed mean that there
is probably minimal immigration into this valley and that we are dealing
here with a genetic population that is geographically isolated and
probably well inbred, perhaps reflecting the genotype of the founder
population that colonized this area shortly after the last glaciation.
In
this respect, the genes of this population would represent a fine
control gene pool to compare the evolution of bears in more direct
conflict with human encroachment.
Development Impacts
Windthrow,
erosion, plant species dominance changes and human activities would
have the most important effect on grizzly habitats in the Khutzeymateen.
Other factors may well influence grizzly habitat as well including site
preparation and species of conifer being restocked.
For
grizzlies, research has shown that life is a movable feast and there is a
season to be feeding on particular foods. Each season therefore has its
special foods and those foods need to be present in sufficient
abundance to maintain the population during that season.
What I
noted on one of my visits to the valley is the close juxtaposition of
foods for all seasons, a perfect smorgasbord in a constrained valley,
one that obviously supports a small stable grizzly population.
Knowing
that there are estuarine grasses and sedges and riparian grasses as
well for spring feed, skunk cabbages later on and other roots and
shoots, pink salmon for summer along with huckleberry, salmonberry and
later runs of coho to enjoy with osier berries and devil's club fruit,
all in proportion adequate to meet the needs of this population,
suggests to me that logging activities cannot improve on this basic
balanced ecosystem.
It will in fact place it in serious
danger. To prevent windthrow, one would have to leave large tracts of
tall streamside spruce, abhorrent to the logger, or to not log at all or
to log right to the stream's edge, a situation ripe for erosion and
damage to the fish population.
To regenerate conifers, fruit
bearing bushes would need to be either fire damaged or herbicided,
activities that seriously changes the dominance of those species and the
balanced relationships each must have in their respective season of use
by grizzlies. Burns, depending on conditions, can either suppress or
kill valuable food species while herbicides often kill even the root
systems of plants or they may promote one food species at the expense of
another.
If the new forest is allowed to close its canopy
15-25 years hence, there will be little light penetration to the forest
floor thus killing what fruiting species survived thereby further
damaging the vegetation balance further.
There will be the
noise of development, a harassment to bears, and it may well drive many
shy bears out of the valley where they may not have as high a survival
rate, thereby impacting on the population.
Some bears may have
to be shot or transported for threatening humans in inadvertent
encounters. Even foresters and biologists carry guns for protection so
that preliminary development reconnaissance may impact on their
population, if it is already tenuous, as in the Khutz.
Insect
pests, porcupines, stand tending, thinning and so on all require
presence of humans, leading to further human impacts of an unforeseen
nature.
Skidding and yarding tall spruce over soft valley
soils may cause unavoidable damage to fish habitat through erosion and
debris and vegetation decomposition.
Siltation and erosion
induced by logging will be unavoidable and from research at Carnation
creek, we do not yet know how long it will take to stabilize a watershed
from these effects. This will impact on the salmon species and as yet,
we cannot precisely predict how, once again placing the seasonal food
balance into jeopardy.
Spawning gravel recruitment to the
system may well change in gravel and particle size and abundance with
deleterious effects on certain fish stocks. There will probably be an
increase in fine sands and pea gravel’s, making it more difficult for
fry to emerge and for eggs to obtain oxygen. Research has identified
this as one of the main impacts of logging.
A healthy fish population each present in abundance in season is one of the key food resources for the bears in this valley.
Black bears are also present in the valley and grizzly may well feed on them and occasionally vice versa.
There
is thus a dynamic equilibrium between the grizzly and black bear
populations, which may well swing towards favoring the blacks which
respond better to disturbed sites.
I noted not a single
ungulate in the valley floor on two visits, though goats could be seen
on the valley walls. There were wolves present though. I have since been
informed by a research assistant to Bear Biologist, Wayne McRory, that
there is one moose in the valley, but he is very nervous.
The main mystery to me of the Khutzeymateen is how three large predators manage to coexist without ungulate prey species?
This would be a wonderful research question to address in the Khutzeymateen and perhaps only in the Khutzeymateen.
Conclusion
I
have described how vegetation changes and management intervention and
human activities might throw the existing dynamic equilibrium out of
balance.
Any development whatsoever would require human
management intervention to prevent harm to the grizzly population, thus
destroying this balanced wilderness ecosystem forever.
I have
shown how the bear is declining globally, nationally and provincially.
There is no ecological reserve dedicated to this species anywhere in
Canada.
I have demonstrated how we are largely ignorant of its
actual numbers, method of population regulation, or the impact we are
having on it through our management strategies.
We cannot
guarantee the protection of the Khutzeymateen population with the
present state of knowledge as we cannot foresee what will happen to
affect the forests there once we intervene.
We cannot
guarantee stability of habitat protection measures because of political
whims that affect government policies and personnel, over four years,
let alone over the rotation period of such a forest.
It will
not be cheaper to set aside a valley in the future for these magnificent
animals, nor will it be possible to find a pristine one when most of
the country is into second growth.
The Natives often included
the bear in their totems, and people might belong to the bear clan. The
bear is thus connected to humans spiritually.
In this sense, I found that my own spirit took second place to the spirit of the bear in this isolated valley.
I
have been to the Khutzeymateen and I found a world where I was the
alien. It was a precious experience and one which we should reserve for
our grandchildren and beyond.
Even armed with fire-arms, our safety was not guaranteed if the Inhabitants had rebelled. But they did not.
I found the inhabitants shy, curious and peaceful though a bit fearful of our presence.
For
human kind to be humbled thus is a wonderful experience, for we have
devastated and conquered almost every niche of the Planet and reveled in
our arrogance.
To satisfy our curiosity, we seek to
communicate with inhabitants of other worlds by sending satellites
beaming radio messages proclaiming our glorious existence.
Ironically,
here, right under our very noses, shuddering before the threatening
blades of the poised iron cats, is a world with strong proud inhabitants
not unlike ourselves in many ways, masterfully living in harmony with
other kinds.
Yet, we do not seek to communicate with them, or
to understand their social structure because of our curiosity, or the
secrets of their harmony with their environment because we must soon
learn to live with our own environment, instead, we callously seek to
destroy their world to satisfy our greed and arrogance.
Are we
not yet civilized enough, to give this strong, proud symbol of a world
that flourished prior to the human explosion, a tiny remnant of that
once untainted land, the valley of the Khutzeymateen?
Copyright 1998 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
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