Grizzly bears once roamed North America from Mexico all the way to the Arctic Ocean.

Historical persecution of grizzly bears reduced the species’ range dramatically. Now, Western Canada and Alaska are their only strongholds. B.C. contains more than half of Canada’s remaining grizzly bears — but many of our grizzly populations are still in decline.

Scientific name: Ursus arctos horribilis
Indigenous names: Kⱡawⱡa Tukⱡuⱡakʔ (Ktunaxa) | Skemcís (Secwépemc) | kiɁlawnaɁ (Syilx) 
Status: Species of Special Concern (COSEWIC, SARA, & BC CDC)

Threats to Grizzly bears

Of the 55 grizzly bear populations in B.C., around 60% are threatened, with leading threats being habitat loss and fragmentation from roads and railways, and human-bear interactions.  Most grizzly bears over the age of two are eventually killed by people, and almost all are killed near roads (shot, not hit by vehicles). 

Studies from across west-central North America report that humans account for between 77% and 90% of grizzly bear mortalities. It is also estimated that human-caused grizzly deaths are underreported by 65% — meaning for every recorded death, there are two that go unreported. 

Grizzlies require large, connected ranges to survive¹

Grizzly bears’ ranges can vary from 25 to 200 km for females, and 60 to 700 km2 for adult males. Alpine ridges, subalpine meadows and forests, grasslands, creeks, floodplains, and riparian and wetland areas all serve different but equally important purposes in a grizzly bear’s lifetime. 

Mountain valley bottoms are especially important, serving as travel corridors between different habitats and allowing bears to move to essential food sources.

Grizzly bears have one of the lowest reproductive rates of any North American mammal

Females don’t begin reproducing until they are five to eight years old. Litters are quite small (one to four cubs), and mothers will only mate again once their cubs leave them after two to three years. Historically, this low reproductive rate was offset by a low mortality rate, keeping grizzly populations stable. But with so many human-based hazards now endangering grizzlies, that’s no longer the case.

Roads & rails are deadly for grizzly bears

Railway tracks and roads can fragment habitat, lead to collisions, and increase people’s access to critically important grizzly territory. Extensive research has determined that maintaining less than 600m/km2 of road access is critical to protecting female grizzly bears. 

In addition, “only one in four bears killed in collisions are being reported to authorities because animals are often able to move hundreds of metres off the transportation corridor after being struck and before dying.” — Clayton Lamb, Wildlife Scientist.

Grizzly bears in the Elk Valley

The Elk Valley’s grizzly bear population is twice as dense as Banff National Park’s² but sub-adult grizzly bear survival in the Elk Valley region is the lowest in North America. 40% of the region’s sub-adult grizzly bears (aged two to six) die each year, and the region’s mature adult bears don’t reproduce fast enough to replenish populations³.. The only reason the Elk Valley’s grizzly population remains stable is because bears from surrounding regions continuously migrate into the area. 

The Elk Valley has the highest rate of human-bear conflict in the province⁴. It also accounts for one third of all of B.C’s road and railway collisions with grizzlies, despite the area only making up 0.6% of the province’s grizzly range. 

A study monitored 76 grizzly bears in the Elk Valley. Between 2016 and 2022, 22 of the bears died, and only one of these died from natural, non-human causes; 14 died from human-bear conflict (mostly due to unsecured attractants at private residences), six died from road or railway collisions, one was likely from a human, and one was naturally-caused.

What is Wildsight doing?

Wildsight is working across the Kootenay, Columbia and Southern Rockies regions to reduce road densities, reconnect and protect grizzly habitats and push back against developments that would threaten local grizzly bear populations.

For example, our large-scale, collaborative wildlife connectivity project ‘Reconnecting the Rockies’ is protecting wildlife and motorists along a 27-kilometre stretch of Highway 3 in B.C.’s Elk Valley. Once complete, the project aims to have constructed 11 safe wildlife crossing points — including one overpass and 10 underpasses — all connected by exclusion fencing to keep animals away from vehicles and guide them toward crossings. 

At a local level, our six autonomous branches work to prevent human-bear conflicts through public education and cost-share programs that make electric fencing and fruit tree removal more affordable. 

We also work in collaboration with First Nations, including the Ktunaxa Nation with whom we protected the Jumbo Valley from a proposal for a year-round ski resort. In early 2020, the Ktunaxa Nation declared the Qat’muk Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, protecting the Jumbo Valley and 700 km2 around it—forever.

What can you do? 

Education and understanding how to manage human-bear interactions are the most critical steps forward. Bear aware training, use of deterrents (such as bear spray), and preventing bears’ access to attractants such as garbage, fruit trees or livestock (through electric fencing, removal, etc), have all proven extremely effective. You can also support Wildsight’s work protecting grizzly bears and their habitat with a tax-deductible donation—every dollar helps.

1. ‘Current Condition Report for Grizzly Bear in the Kootenay-Boundary Region‘ (2019)
2. ‘Generalized spatial mark–resight models with an application to grizzly bears‘ (2018)
3. ‘Current Condition Report for Grizzly Populations in the Kootenay-Boundary Region‘ (2019)
4. ‘Unsecured attractants, collisions, and high mortality strain coexistence between grizzly bears and people in the Elk Valley, southeast British Columbia’ (2023)