Shrinking habitat, fragmentation: Jumbo Glacier Resort would make it worse, says expert.

Any further steps by the Province to approve the Jumbo Glacier Resort would be based on dated, incomplete information about grizzly bears, say conservation groups. Wildsight and the Jumbo Creek Conservation Society say Dr. Michael Proctor’s latest studies—which warn of a ‘fracture’ in grizzly populations resulting from JGR development proposal—should be considered in the decision.

“While it has taken time to decide about the JGR resort application, state of the art science has been going on, and we have the advantage of new and compelling information”, said Dave Quinn of Wildsight. “When the Province extended JGR’s outdated 2004 Environmental Assessment in 2009, with no changes, they ignored grizzly research from 2007 that showed bear numbers in the Purcells were much lower than anyone expected. Something was wrong. Now we have insights into what. According to Proctor, human use in the backcountry Purcells has reached the point where bear numbers aren’t rebounding from their low numbers. Is this a time to approve a large all-season resort deep in the backcountry of the Purcells”?

Even more importantly, it looks like the Purcell grizzly bear is important to surrounding threatened sub-populations. The new research was summarized by Proctor in a letter to the Environmental Assessment Office and the B.C. ministers in charge of the environment, tourism and forest sectors. In the letter, Proctor asked the government to consider his comments. Beyond the limiting human-use he identified three ‘patterns of interest’ concerning the proposed resort. First, he cited extensive fragmentation of the regional bear distribution that has led to small, at-risk ‘sub-populations.’ Second, he said bears in the Purcells are part of a ‘regional anchor’ sub-population that will be essential to adjacent sub-populations’ survival. Third, he said highways, human settlement and developments are the main causes of fragmentation.

“Therein lies the risk of the Jumbo Glacier Resort to the Purcell-Selkirk anchor sub-population,” Proctor wrote. “To improve the status of the Purcell grizzly (and allow them to make their critical regional contribution) it will likely be necessary to improve the balance of human use and wildlife habitat needs. The JGR would challenge our ability to accomplish that goal.”

Quinn said Proctor’s report shows the direct link between human access and below par grizzly populations, and he (Quinn) wants to know how the information will be worked into the JGR approval process—if at all. ”Government has a duty to integrate the new (and the 2007 results) science-based information into the decision process. They claim to want to let science guide their land use policies, here is a good opportunity to do just that.”

“JGR claims it can mitigate impacts on bear populations by controlling public access in adjacent valleys,” Quinn also said. “But JGR hasn’t even been able to control public access up one road into its tenure on Farnham Creek—a road that already has two gates! If JGR goes ahead, the public will basically pay to lock itself out of other drainages. Although with recent cuts to Forestry and Environment, who will monitor and enforce these theoretical broad-scale closures? In the end, Purcell grizzlies will pay with their lives.”