British Columbia

Estimates range from 3,000 to 10,000 Brown Bears with populations in varying degrees of stability.

Coastal populations are being severely impacted by logging practices. Out of 353 coastal valleys 70 are still intact; 55 of these are scheduled to be logged. The salmon populations upon which these bears depend are also being depleted. 142 known salmon stocks have gone extinct. There are currently 642 stocks considered to be at high risk of extinction. (more on this soon: stay tuned)

There are presently only about 60-80 grizzlies in Banff National Park and about 200 in all National Parks in the Northern Rockies. In British Columbia and Alberta there have been about 800 grizzly mortalities (all but 3 man-caused) since 1982. There have been about 600 mortalities in the East Kootenai since 1976 (Bryon Benn, pers. comm.). Hopes of Canadian bears emigrating into the U.S. to rescue declining populations are unrealistic.

The British Columbia Ministry of the Environment has developed a Habitat Capability Model for grizzly bears.

Population estimates have been summarized by Servheen (1990).


[IMAGE]


Click on image to return to North American Map