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Abstract:

I examined movement patterns of adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Bow River Watershed, Alberta.  Intensive movement data showed that habituated adult female bears did not take advantage of higher quality habitats in the same manner as wary bears.  The combination of habituated bears using lower quality habitats and demonstrating higher movement rates suggests less energy available for growth and reproduction.  Bears within an area of restricted human access used higher quality habitat and traveled less than bears in unregulated areas.  I document the permeability of several highways in a landscape where human presence is widespread.  One highway with 24 hour, year-round high traffic volumes served as a total barrier for adult female movement and a filtered barrier for males.  Traffic volume appeared to be a key variable in highway permeability.  Significant potential currently exists for permanent habitat and population fragmentation to occur along the Trans Canada Highway.  I document the degree and magnitude of grizzly bear responses as a function of  multiple interacting variables based on observed distances to roads, trails and development features.  Bears were found closer to trails during the human inactive period when within high quality habitat and further from trails when distant from high quality habitat.  Female bears remained further than males from paved roads regardless of the habitat quality or time of day.  My data indicated an inverse relationship between the sexes in response to vehicles and traffic noise compared to the response to human settlement and encountering people.  I developed a predictive GIS-based model of adult female grizzly bear security areas in the Central Canadian Rocky Mountains.  Forty eight percent of the land surface area of the Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks were unsuitable for grizzly bears, primarily because of rock and ice.  This is unfortunate because it is assumed that these national parks form productive core refugia for grizzly bears.  Management of access and development are key to grizzly bear persistence in the region.  An adaptive management approach, bringing in new knowledge of grizzly bear response to human activity, will be crucial, to support population connectivity and habitat security.