Study finds people, not roads, bother Canada’s grizzly bears the most

By Bob Weber
Canadian Press in the Globe and Mail
January 9, 2018
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

It’s not necessarily the roads in the backcountry that bother grizzly bears. Sometimes, it’s the people on them. That’s one of the conclusions of new research from the University of Alberta — and it could have big implications for resource development. “There’s no doubt that roads themselves are probably not that bad for bears,” said Clayton Lamb, a University of Alberta biologist and co-author of a paper published Tuesday in the Journal of Applied Ecology. …But keep the public off resource roads and grizzlies rebound. Industry use of such roads is sporadic. Public use is regular. “Closing roads to the public restored bear density in some small areas where this was done,” Lamb said. “We would close those roads to the public and then we would elevate bears back up.”

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