Research and applied tools to enhance forest management linkages to Grizzly Bear conservation and recovery in Alberta

This project builds on the knowledge and data sets the Grizzly Bear Program gathered in this area over the past 12 years. This project is intended to gather additional datasets to address forest management planning issues, and to utilize existing data and expertise for the development of new and important tools for forest management planning in Alberta that will aid in grizzly bear and caribou management and recovery of these species at risk.

Grizzly bears are considered to be a threatened species in Alberta and recovery efforts are now underway. A significant proportion of grizzly bear range in Alberta occurs within the boreal forest and this is also an area that has ongoing forest management activities. The new tools we develop from this work will be made available to all program partners for operational application.

This proposed research program will enable forest and land use planners to utilize new research findings and GIS based applications to understand impacts of forest harvesting on grizzly bear and caribou habitat use.  When combined, the results and deliverables emerging from this project will play an important role in both practical forest management challenges and new integrated land management initiatives within the boreal forests of Alberta.

The main objectives of this project are:

• Assessing grizzly bear use of clear-cut edges and patch retention within forest management areas.
• Evaluate forest harvest planning strategies that maximize net value of timber and grizzly bear habitat.
• Creation of a new planning tool to simultaneously evaluate forest harvesting effects on caribou and grizzly bears on a shared landscape.
• Development of a new GIS application to calculate the effect of road reclamation on grizzly bear habitat security.
• Development of a GIS application to calculate the proportion of planned cutblocks visible from roadsides.

Grizzly bears are a considered to be a threatened species in Alberta and recovery efforts are now underway. A significant proportion of grizzly bear range in Alberta occurs within the boreal forest and this is also an area that has ongoing forest management activities. This research project will attempt to increase our understanding of grizzly bear use of managed forest landscapes with an aim to allow the needs of grizzly bears to be factored into forest management plans and sustainable land use activities within grizzly bear range in Alberta.

The new tools we develop from this work will be made available to all program partners for operational application.