Living in Harmony

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shrinks, increasing numbers of people seek ways

encounten that do not re.ult r:: l-.:::::r..r.rnrr-na1 tragedy. Still, action is neededtoensurethe),donrrtin:r-.,.. -.:::-r.ilil.llifemanilgersthroughout

They desire peace and quiet, a place

the Rocky Mountains are takinc

As the pressures of modern society increase at the same time as our globe

to slow down that pace. they can retreat to in order to relax,

unwind and restore their spirits.

To many, mountain communities represent a sanctuary that can fulfiIl that desire. Away from the noise and pace of the city, we can relax, reconnect with nature, sooth our urban-ravaged souls and live a saner, less hectic lifestyle.

Yet this desire to reconnect with nature has ramifications that many people do not consider. With numbers of residents and visitors to mountain communities increasing, wildlife populations, already under stress from reduced habitat and increased encounters with humans, face additional strain.

As human activity in places like the Bow Valley, the Kootenays and the mountain parks increases, the occurence of wildlife-human encounters also increases. As those encounters increase, the chances that they can produce negative, even sometimes fatal, results also increase. Last winter, a cougar killed mer,

a

jldlile

con-

managel of the ecosl

stet-t-t

tl'rings that have gone rtell.

pared

s;;:et:: ,:l :' Ftrr=

er.r::::.,..

l-:.sper. L.ut jt

'i'c.lir

. \\ rrrth noting the arc in gre:t shape not| com-

to what thel' rtere 10 61 l1 1;'-:.;: -:{a. }aa:.tlt:. tri :tttlte

ir-riti.rtives

we've taken."

In the 1970s, a high nr.rnr[.er ,ri F:r-i 'bcir. r\.r. 'oiinr ki]led improper galbage har-rdIir-rg in ntr.untairL l.erk ;.,ntnrunitics.

"Bears were quite l-rabitr-rate.1 to

ollr

6P311 931'[393

ticgalbagehandlingtacilities.'sars\.anTigh.'m. ers')canered th|trughrrLrt

"In

111.

dur-r-rp.

;1111

result

of

minimalis-

Basicrlh.nehad'bear-feed-

;,rr'11'111i1 q..

Jasper, Eizzlies con.entrated

wele locked in on the

.iump5

as a

in the -{th.llriscr

\h1le1, because they

\\'e had ro.rd kills as:ociated rtith that.

'A lot of things h'ere not going nell in be.rr cot-rntrr.'

In the early 1980s. the use olelectrifretl fences around dumps and better

Focusing on isolated incidents like those can create a skewed picture, how-

MOUNTAIN;.:t

hun'r.r-i-n

flict,andtalk aboutthc thing: t:-i.r:.r.-rr', \,,rrrkins."s.ls Ker-in \IanTighem.

domestic pet within the toh,nsite.

32

prLr:\l-:'.: ,.:i-, r:.1.3;1 to

"People lil<e to fcrcus on

summer, BanffPark staffhad to deal

ever. While some unfortunate encounters do occur, there are

iLLrp .rt-rii it-nprove the I,\,ays peo-

ple co-exist with n,ildliie.

woman cross-country skiing on Banff's Minnewanka Trail. Last sum-

a grizzly attacked a human at the Canmore Nordic Cenffe. This past with a human-habituated wolf killing a

:i.:: :. j.\

maly other

solid-waste treatment approaches eliminated some l)f the problems associated

with bears and garbage

dur-r-rps.

i

"With the exception of last year [the attacks at the Nordic Centre and near Nakiska, both by the same fernale grizzly

with cubsl, we haven't had any serious attacks in or immediately around Canmore."

of humans taking action rathef

These examples

expecting wildlife to adapt demonstrate a Ieversal

than

ofthe way

in which we deal with wildlife issues. In the past, we would remove the wildlife, either by re{ocating it or, in the extreme, by eliminating it. That proved to be only a shortterm solution, however. Reiocated animals sometimes returned. If they did not, eventually some other animal would take their place, and the cycle would begin anew.

Relocatior-r to a more remote area does not necessalilv mean the risk to humans has been eliminated, either. "lf an animal is habituated as a result of being around humans within a residential community, we can't just take it out and let it loose in the wild,"says Richard Hoar, an offrcer with the B.C. Conservation Service in Invermere. "lf that ani-

Wg

mal then encounters uated animal

a

human in the backcountry, that habit-

will act like it did in the

area

florn which

we

removed it. A hiker unaware of tl-rat is r-rot in a safe situation."

Re-locating the ar-rimal is also no guarantee of safety for tl-re

opposite sides of the proverbial fence.

li:iatrE4.? 'x-il-:t i$n

lfi

.1"+.iii+l

r1l;.Eii{#84[X

animal, either.

"B.C. conservation officers put a lot of effort into relocating bears, when absolutely necessary," says )ohn

Wieczorek, provincial co-ordinator

for the

B.C.

Conservation Foundation's Bear Aware Program. "But there is a huge cost associated witl'r tl-rat, not only in telms

iriBtffiSE

ol human dollars.

"When you move a bear from area A to area B, odds are there's already a bear in that area. That can cause hardship

for botl'r bears, creating conflict and problems in the search "We also brought bear-proof garbage containers," says Van Tighem.

"It

was

a an expensive system to implement, but we now have bears that are using prlmarily natural foods, so the nunlber of conflicts and cleacl bears - is way

Managers in the national parks now view the situatior-r of urban wildlife ir-r mountain communities as much a human management issr:e as it is an animal

down.

management issue.

"lt's a real conservation success storyi' The town of Canmore recently repeated that of bear-proof bins in 1999.

"In says

1998, we had a huge nr-rmber

"We leave direct intervention on the animal success,

implementing the use

of ir-rcidents of bears getting into garbagej'

Clark Merriman, an Alberta conservation offlcer in the Ghost-Cann'rore dis-

trict. "Tl-rere were no injuries or attacks, but thele were many potentially dan-

as a last resort," says

Glenn Peers,

conflict specialist in Banff "lf you look at the stats for our bear handlings, the numbers have gone way down in the past decade.

a human-wildlife

"But our houls of effort per individual incident have gone up, which means we're dedicating mole tinre, being fal more proactive in our approach."

Carbage is not the only wildlile attractant. Certain types of

fiult

trees, com-

gelous situations, with bears getting onto decks, into garages. That, cornbir-red

post bins, even backyard barbecues all have the potential to attract wildlife into

with a failed berry crop, led to 300 incidents involving about 30 bears in and

residential areas.

around the townsite.

"Those have

beer-r

influofother

Those are all human elements. Another element that can have a strong

mitigated by using the binsl'

Fulther evidence of the

success

of that simple approach was provided by

ence on the presence

ofwildlife within

a

residential area

is the presence

wildlife. More specifically, prey species in a comnrur.rity can attmct more dan-

increased incidents in other nearby conrmunities. As soon as the Canmore inci-

gerous predator species.

irnts

:. :r.nerienced an inclease in incidents.

Deeq sheep and elk all feel comfortable within townsites. Although they are wildlife elements that may attract bears, wolves and cougars, as opposed to

-r

human elements, they are also there

-

I

for food."

droppecl, communities withor.rt bear-proof bins, like Exshaw and Lac des

,..:-.;r \\olLls. the bears moved from one salad bar to another.

-l:::. .::r' nr)t mllch different from humans," says Merriman. "lf, I could go .n:l : : ":; rrhere I could eat for free, I'd do so until someone chased me offl

\lhen .h;r :ha..,d

nre oI1i I'd go to the next one."

Since then. bear encounters. for the most part, have decreased in Canmore.

as a

result of human activity.

Van Tighem says we have created a situation where tov,r-rsites are more desirable than wilderness.

"lf you're an

elk, two thir-rgs are important to you: finding good food and

avoiding predators. In the past,

ar-ry place

that held people was another place tl-rat

MOUNTAINLIFE

33

Peers points out

held predators. We were predators like bears, wolves and cougars, so ungulates t1e

avoided us.

"Since then, there've been changes.

In protected

areas, we've ceased

predators. Ungulates recognize this, and so they don't need

to avoid

us.

to be Other

predators do avoid us, so it's safer for prey species to be around us.

that people living in mountain communities should be a lit-

more awale and cautious about letting their pets out at night.

"They shouldn't be surprised if something happens. You're putting a domestic animal in fiont of an opportunistic predator that will take advantage of an easy meal."

"In addition to that, in the communities

we've built, we've poured in I(entucky bluegrass, watered our shrubs, and created some very high quality

Even prey species can represent a danger to pets in certain circumstances.

In Waterton National Park, deer and

sheep are the main

wild

species

that

forage.

spend significant amounts of tin-re in the toumsite.

"It's inevitable these animals are going to turn up in town."

Attracting predators that are normally wary around humans, but are drawn by their search for food, is only one aspect of the problem. Elk, in particular, can pose a problem by themselves, whether they attract predators or not.

In the early 1990s, Banff Park staff recognized the growing public salety

"We do have some concems regarding doe mule deer, ftom early June to late Julyl'says Waterton park warden I(eith McDougall. "When they have new fawns at that time ofyeaq they can be quite aggressive toward dogs, which they per-

problems elk represented.

the small park community.

"We were averaging seven contact charges a year up until last year, and roughly 120 aggressive incidents a year," says Peers.

Aggressive incidents range ftom posturing to bluff charges to charges that

because there is a cougar-deer afflliation.

result in actual physical contact with people.

"The townsite avoid predators should

1.rave

r,vas a

as

well

predator-fiee area for them, and they were using as a source

ceive to be predators."

Like the elk in Banffand Jasper, the deer do occasionally attract predators into

"Cougars used

to be drawn into town, arrd ale still drawn in

ofgood food. So we had more elk than we with the number of people we

had, and they didn't mix that well

had herel' The park entered into an extensive elk management program that included a three-year research program.

"The public safety part ofthe equation is tl-re effect, but the cause is the larger ecological issuel' says Peers. "Shor-t-term solutions solve the public safety issues, but the longer-term solutions have to address the ecological issues. The last few years, we've been re{ocating elk, hazing them, using aversion conditioning to get them to leave.

"Those efforts have been quite successful, as we went down to zero contact

occasionally,

hasn't been a problem

in recent

years, though.

"They used to get under

it to

It

a

porch or under

a house,

but we did a big campaign

about five years ago to get people to fence or enclose places cougars could get into. New places that are built now include design features to eliminate that type of situation fiom developing.

"That seems to have made quite a difference."

Building houses in such a way as to eliminate potential problems is another example of people adapting to live with wildlife, rather than expecting wildlife to adapt to us. That approach is crucial if we are to continue to live with wildlife.

"If we're going to have these communities alrd we want them to be connected to the landscape, integrated rather than in opposition to the landscape, we need to figure out what the ecological dynamics are, then make some adjustments around thatl'says Van Tighem.

"The real challenge lies in learning how to live in these landscapes. Part ofthe

charges

way to meet that challenge is to create ecological literacy."

summeq either.

However,

They still have some presence in the townsite, though, and as long as they live there, there still exists the potential for attracting predators that might

the same living space that humans desire. The same features that humans find

otherwise avoid the town.

so attractive

in 2000."

As ofthe end ofJuly, Banffhad recorded no contact charges by elks this past

Certainly, public education about wildlife has increased in leaps and bounds.

it is an ongoing, often diff)cult, sometimes frustrating process. one ofthe first facts people need to realize and accept ls that wildlife

-

rivers, wetlands, lush valleys, forests

-

desires

also attract wildlife. By decid-

territory just northeast ofthe Banfftownsite. Last winter, the pack killed an elk at the town recreation grounds.

Familiarity with the townsite in that type of situation can contribute to new problems later on, like a situation the park had to deal with in late ,uly.

A lone sub-adult wolf apparently ostracized and picked on by the pack, but already habituated to the town's environment, began making forays into Banff's periphery areas. It killed a pet dog, which is not an unusual situation

ing to live in areas like the Bow Valley, we are going to encounter wildlife.

in terms of wolf behavior.

"What people have to understand is that wolves kill other wolves. It's part of what they do," says Peers.'A dog is just another canid to them."

they fir-rd homes and gardens.

A wolfpack recently established

a

That means a wolf or wolves encountering a domestic dog may view it as a threat to their territory, or may attack it as a food source, as they would a strange wolf or coyote in the wild.

'Any wolf that shows that level of habituation is a major concern to us," says the human-wildiife conflict specialist. "Because a wolf comes into town and kills a dog does not mean it will automatically attack another dog - or a human being - the next time it encounters one in town.

"But at the same time, this animal's willingness to be in and around the townsite is of great concern to us."

34

MOUNTAINL;TE

Those habitats are not restricted to communities

in the national

parks. As

communities outside the parks, towns like Invermere, Fernie, Kimberley, continue to grow, it stands to reason that encounters with wildlife will also increase.

"They're located along rivers, riparian corridors, which are good feeding grounds for bears and other animalsl'says Wieczorek. "Because of that, the animals do wander through there, and instead ofthe usual wilderness vegetation, 'As more people move out into wilder areas, there are more interactions, and definitely more of a potential for conflict, as human population increases and animals become more habituated to peopie3' When implementing public education progmms, conservation oflicers and

wildlife managers in Alberta and B.C. find themselves dealing with several different categories of people.

"We have a number of audiences: our own senior management, media, local residents, regional visitors and national and international visitors," Banff's Peers says.

"Even within our local audience, we have different groups: at one end, there

are long-term residents; at the other, there are seasonal employees in the town, some of them unfamiliar with wilderness environments.

"We've come a long rvay, but we're aiways looking to improve."

in terms of living with wildlife.

"The B.C. mountain communities are growing very rapidly, so the demographics are changing." echoes Jennifer Newman, organizer of a Bear Aware program in Golden. "You try to educate the public, and it's such a hard thing

to do because there is such a variety ofdifferent people. "lt s hard to know who your audience is."

Rl;hard Hoar identifies two main groups at which wildlife education is tar-

riteJ: rcsidents and visitors.

"Residents are usually quite aware of the local wildlife situations and are easy to deal est

withj'the B.C. conservation officer

says.

"Tourists create our great-

"That's the No. Canmore, areas

as

quickly

as possible. We

education, and changing our mindset,"says Merriman.

I

of in using the adjacent wildland

have certain rights and privileges

- but my rights and privileges don't override those of the wildlifel ifa grizzly is leeding in an area near a popular hiking trail, the fact that

"So

the bear is there should be enough to influence people to voluntarily find another area in which to hike. Ifpeople take the attitude,'l have as much right to be here

as

the bear; and they push the issue and provoke an incident, their

safety is at risk, and the bear's safety is at risk.

workload.

"We have to try to educate them

1 issue:

"We have to develop the type of attitude where people think, As a resident

"In my mind, those are unnecessary risksJ' Peers says people who choose to live in mountain communities do have to

don't know how

much they know before they arrive. S "Many people coming lrom cities have little experience with wildlife. They step out here and don't realize once they're out here that they can become part ofa predator-prey relationship. That awareness comes ifthey pick up info or are with a friend who knows about wi1d1ife.

"The residents understand a lot ofthat stuff because we can put out info to them in the local papers, but that won't necessarily reach visitors."

take responsibility for their actions and decisions.

ofthe tourist season, the blitz resumes to try to get information to visitors.

"We try to get materials like pamphiets into high-contact areas, like visitor centres and ma]'or resort areas," says Hoar. "We're also looking at ways to try to

that choice will decide the future of wildlife in the mountains.

Every year at the start

contact tour groups."

It

is just as important,

or perhaps even more important from a residents'

perspective, that visitors to mountain communities are educated just as much

who live there permanently. An unknowledgeable visitor may unwittingly create a dangerous situation, then leave tl-re area without having to deal with the consequences. Later visitors or permanent residents may be left to deal with the consequences ofthat first visitor's actions.

Residents are not completely innocent ofundesirable behaviour, ofcourse.

New residents, in particular, can be unaware ofbehaviour that is undesirable as those

B

I

e.

k

&$dr\

iE

il

is a recently developed program in B.C. aimed at to prevent bears from being attracted

teaching people what they can do

into residential settings.

"For the most part, it's a common sense program, involving practices you might not think of doing," says John Wieczorek, B.C. Bear Aware's provincial co-ordinator. "Once you know about them, they're so simple, there's no reason not to do them."

Much

"With the events of the last year, the locals are somewhat heightened to the fact that they're living in a wild worldl' he

"People have a very poorly-developed sense of smell compared with

think it might

:-., - . - ':. onLy in winter when they need the food. That will ,::- ::r': .. -f vour birdfeeder. :..: :=-. -. -=: ,,,,0u have to feed them outside, monitor the .- --", - -'==-''.* so pets do not cache what they do not eat-

"There is an onus on the people

"We're not in the business of guaranteeing total safety for everybody all the time. We'll do our best, but there

is some onus

on people who live and visit here."

Van Tighem says residents faced with that onus do have a choice to make, and

"lf these communlties

are going to work, if we're going to avoid these

human conflicts, we've got to stop thinking ofthe wildlife

as a

wildlife-

problem and start

thinking about the nature of these animals, the eco-dynamics. And then use our human strengths - intelligence, humility, creativity - to figure oLlt how we can best co-exist," he says.

"lfwe're going to live in the best habitat, there are going to be one oftwo conto co-exist with wildlife and they're going to have a future; or we're going to displace them and they won't have a future.

"The first option is rich with opportunities; the second one promises a huge sequences: we're either going

poverty of the soul." /ohn Geary is a Cttlgary-based.freelance writer

creating a sure source of bear bait.

.

lf you do feed pets outside, clean up the eating area thoroughly after each meal.

.

Keep garbage inside a bear-proof container or a closed garage. Keep

very smelly items, like meat wrappers, inside a plastic bag in freezer untiI garbage day.

a

o Manage

.

your compost bin carefutly. Turn the compost material regularly; add lime to help it de-compose quickly, to keep the smell down. Putting a tarp on top also helps reduce the odour. lf you plant ornamental trees, choose trees that will not attract wildtife. Why plant a flowering crab (a sure-fire bear attractant) if you can plant some other ornamental tree?

.

When barbecuing. let the flames burn for a few minutes after cook-

of it involves eliminating odours that attract animals.

:- -': s." says Wieczorek. "Be aware of the smells; if you j" ' .-:rals, get rid of it."

- ' : -.:lise the following

says.

who live in a park community that it is different here.

ing to eliminate any grease or food that has fallen through the grill.

Clean the grilI thoroughly or take

it inside.

Cover your barbecue in-

MOUNTAINT!irl

35