We welcome inquiries: Box 6330 Hinton, Alberta Canada • T7V 1X6 • T: 780.865.8330 • F: 780.865.8331 • foothillsresearchinstitute.ca

The Foothills Research Institute’s Grizzly Bear Program has made significant advances in improving our understanding of how grizzly bears use forested landscapes within their range in Alberta. Along with our new knowledge, tools and models have been developed to assist in sustainable land management practices and decisions concerning the long-term conservation of grizzly bears. These include:• Habitat maps for all of grizzly bear range in Alberta based on satellite imagery.• Remote sensing tools to map and identify grizzly bear habitats and human use features at both the landscape and stand level.• The use of resource selection function models (RSF) to predict probability of grizzly bear occurrence at the landscape level and models to show areas of mortality risk and “safe harbours” for grizzly bears. • The use of graph theory models to identify grizzly bear movement corridors at the home range and landscape level.• The development of new GIS applications to assess grizzly bear response to forest harvesting, regeneration, and access development.• An understanding of grizzly bear habitat use in relation to forest management practices and landscape conditions along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta.• Spatially explicit food-based models that classify habitat quality based on 20 key grizzly bear foods.• Annual inventory of landscape condition (roads, cutblocks, well sites) classified by year of construction • Biweekly landscape change from 2001-2008, from Grande Prairie south to the US border.

These tools and maps were developed by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the Foothills Research Institute, Canadian Forest Service, University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, University of Calgary, University of Saskatchewan, University of Victoria, University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University. Funding was provided by partners from forestry, oil and gas, mining, federal and provincial governments, and NGOs.

This research initiative is co-sponsored by the University of Saskatchewan, the Foothills Research Institute, and eight industry partners. The broad objective of this research is to investigate relationships between landscape structure, human-caused landscape changes, grizzly bear health, and population performance. Specific objectives are to:

1) Develop remote sensing techniques to monitoring landscape structure and changes including human-caused alterations over large geographic areas.

2) Develop techniques for detecting long-term physiological stress in grizzly bears using blood, skin, and hair.

3) Establish linkages between stress levels and health profiles (longevity, growth, reproduction, immunity, and activity) of grizzly bears with landscape structure and change within home ranges and population ranges along a gradient of human-caused alterations on the landscape.

Grizzly Bear Program(1999 to Current)

Understanding animal health for effective management and conser vation

Understanding Grizzl y Bear response to changing landscapes

Foothills Research Institute is a leader in developing innovative science and knowledge for integrated resource management on the forest landscape through diverse and actively engaged partnerships.

The Foothills Research Institute.landbase is located in west-central Alberta, and is based in the resource community of Hinton, some three hours west of Edmonton. It covers roughly 2.75 million hectare (27,500 square kilometres), and embodies Jasper National Park of Canada, the Willmore Wilderness Park, and the Forest Management Area of Hinton Wood Products, a Division of West Fraser Mills Ltd. It also includes some provincial “crown forest management units” and the Hinton Training Centre’s Cache Percotte Training Forest. Within its boundaries are three forest areas—boreal, montane, and sub-alpine—and many forest uses including timber, petroleum, and coal extraction, tourism, and recreation.

Mary with cub, Photo Credit: Bob McGouie