Khutzeymateen Bears to get their space

Like teenagers eager to keep away from the adults from time to time (more so for the bears we bet), the subject of impact on the life of the Khutzeymateen Grizzlies has been high on the agenda of those that have frequent contact with the animals in the bear sanctuary.

Eager to continue a co-existence that has been beneficial to all so far, First Nations, Government officials and local tour operators came together last week to review procedures and guidelines when it comes to travel into the Khutzeymateen area.

The background of the story was featured in Friday's Daily News as their front page story.

GRIZZLY GUIDELINES AIMED AT PROTECTING KHUTZEYMATEEN

Ministry and tour operators look for extra protection of sanctuary's bears
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, April 11, 2008

Pages one and two

Lax Kw'alaams, the Ministry of Environment and bear-watching tourism operators spent two days this week strengthening their vision of a healthy grizzly bear population in the Khutzeymateen.

"We have had good support from the operators to implement viewing guidelines," said Jamie Hahn, North Coast Area Supervisor for the Ministry of Environment.

"Our goal is not to impact the bears in their daily routines. We don't want them to lose feeding time or nutrient intake because of human activities."

The workshops and a public meeting Wednesday night focused on a bear-viewing strategy for the inlet, a 44,300-hectare area that was classified as a provincial park in 1994, as well as the newly identified conservancy area proposed under the North Coast Land Resource Management Plan (NCLRMP.)

Currently, there are two operators permitted to offer tours in the sanctuary, and another five that operate in the inlet.

"We are lucky in the sense that we have very responsible operators here locally," said Hahn.
Based on the input from the workshops, he said operators are willing to exceed the existing bear-watching standards already being practiced on the Central and Southern Coast.

"It is important to us that this planning process is led by First Nations and the ministry, with user involvement," said Hahn.

"We recognize there is a bear-viewing industry but the sanctuary was first protected for the bears and our priority is minimizing the impact on the bears.

"The good news is that all our monitoring indicates the grizzly bear population of the Khutzeymateen is as healthy and diverse as ever."

The Khutzeymateen, Canada's first grizzly bear sanctuary, is under co-management by Lax Kw'alaams and the province.

The area has long been an important hunting and fishing site for First Nations people, notably the Gitsiis, one of the nine tribes making up the Allied Tsimshian Tribes. Located 45 km northeast of Prince Rupert, the sanctuary was established with the goal of strengthening the North Coast grizzly bear population by preserving part of the ecosystem in which they live.
Visitors to the sanctuary can only get to the location by boat, and they need to check in at the $350,000 floating ranger station and education centre for orientation when visiting the inlet.

In the summer, two Gitsiis guardians from Lax Kw'alaams are part of the team at the station and for the past three years, the B.C. Conservation Corp. has provided funding for scientists to train and monitor the wildlife activity in the area.

The existing sanctuary already has an interim management plan in place. The ministry is in the process of updating this plan with new research as well as developing a slightly different plan that will capture the traditional First Nations social and ceremonial uses within the LRMP conservancy area around the inlet. The viewing strategy, a component of those management plans, is expected to be completed by this fall and the overall management plans by sometime around the fall of next year. All the research that has been gathered in recent years, as well as data going back to the sanctuary's establishment in 1994, will be included in the new management plans.