Grizzly bears, roads, and human-bear conflicts in southwestern Alberta

• Author / Creator

  Joseph, Northrup

• Because most grizzly bear mortalities occur near roads, the Province of Alberta plans to implement gated access management. Little is known about how grizzly bears will respond to road closures because the effects of roads are confounded by habitat and human use. I examined mechanisms underlying grizzly bear habitat selection near roads on private and public lands of southwestern Alberta. I incorporated habitat selection models into an analysis of conflict risk. Grizzly bears selected areas near roads with low traffic and were most active at night on private lands, where human use was low. However, habitat selection varied among individuals, and roads were not a consistent predictor of overall habitat selection across individual bears. Patterns of habitat selection led to the emergence of ecological traps on private land. Access and attractant management should be implemented to reduce bear-human conflicts, and decrease displacement of bears from high-quality habitats.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Carnivore-human conflict
  • Traffic model
  • Bear-human conflict
  • Roads
  • Access management
  • Grizzly bears
  • Ursus arctos

• Graduation date

  Fall 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3MP6M

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.