Time for Nature

Grizzly Tale: The Search for Food

Premiere Edition (May 1, 2002)

Spring is in the Air ... Wake Up!

© Parks Canada

Coming out of hibernation, a mother grizzly bear ambles down the mountain slope in Banff National Park. Two cubs born sometime in February, tumble after her.

The Need to Feed

Grizzlies lose a lot of weight over the winter. This mother now needs food to maintain her weight and her supply of milk for the cubs she will nurse for months.

Parks Canada

This is the six-year-old's first set of cubs. The reproductive rate for grizzlies in Banff National Park is low because quality habitat and food are limited.

Because of the park's mountainous landscape, food sources are scattered and this rugged terrain limits the bears access to them.

There's also another challenge: snow. At higher elevations, it can linger until summer, so the female grizzly heads to warmer and greener river valley bottoms. Here she meets her next obstacle.

Bears Need their Space

The grizzly mother needs a home range big enough to provide security for herself and her cubs.--away from other bears and people.

In Banff National Park, competition amongst grizzlies for a home range with the best combination of food and security is fierce. Dominant males usually take the best locations.

The Security Compromise

Females and their cubs, as well as "teenage" grizzlies, wind up in less than ideal situations. While lush areas like the Bow Valley offer the benefit of better food, they are also full of people, and it's hard for the bears not to come into contact with them.

© Parks Canada

In populated areas, many bears risk being killed on roads or railways. Grizzlies can become used to humans and their food, especially if it's stored improperly. Some bears even lose their natural wariness of people. Such bears are more likely to be declared a risk to public safety and destroyed. Sadly, most of them are adult females. Fewer females puts the grizzly population in jeopardy.

Park Action

Banff National Park manages human-use in the park in order to reduce human-bear conflict, and to provide female grizzly bears with secure, quality habitat. Parks Canada has developed a science partnership with researchers at the Unviersity of Calgary to study grizzly bear ecology and management.

Measures include:

• Voluntary travel restrictions along the eastern half of the Bow Valley Parkway from March 1 - June 25
• Bear-proof garbage containers throughout the park
• Educating park visitors, staff and residents about bears and "bear-aware" practices
• Seasonal 70 km/h speed zone along the Trans Canada Highway near Lake Louise
• Temporarily closing areas frequented by bears at certain times of year

Note: To read the PDF version you need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system.

If the Adobe download site is not accessible to you, you can download Acrobat Reader from an accessible page.

If you choose not to use Acrobat Reader you can have the PDF file converted to HTML or ASCII text by using one of the conversion services offered by Adobe.