Recent projects highlight a couple recent and tangible ways in which our research supports not only human-wildlife coexistence but also renewed self-determination by Indigenous governments.
On the central coast, genetic analyses have identified three genetic groups of grizzly bears – bears are more likely to be related to other bears within their own group than to bears in another group.
It became apparent quickly that any research we did with the Wuikinuxv Nation on grizzly bears would be premised in a deep respect for the well-being of bears. This meant asking questions about the bears’ population, habitat, and food sources. There is a cultural principle in Wuikinuxv of looking ahead over each other and the lands and waters. In the Wuikinuxv language, this practice of being a guardian or a protector is called n̓àn̓akila.
Guided by the Wuikinuxv principle of n̓àn̓akila (to keep an eye on something or someone; a protector or guardian), a new study shows how fisheries managers can allocate salmon for wildlife, while balancing the needs of local communities.
In the landscape on the central coast of what is now known as British Columbia, genetic analyses have identified three distinct genetic groups of grizzly bears. The spatial areas of these groups align strikingly well with the geographies of three Indigenous language families (Tsimshian, Northern Wakashan, Salishan Nuxalk). The explanation the research partnership favours is…
BC Bear Day this past weekend was a grand success. We saw lots of kids, teddy bears in hand, residents looking for tips on how to coexist with bears and people generally interested in learning more about bears. The afternoon portion of the event was filled with presentations, games, face painting, bear yoga and an…
Grizzly and black bears do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to connecting marine and terrestrial ecosystems along the coast. As fish return each fall to spawn, bears catch salmon and eat them along the river banks or adjacent forests, leaving food and nutrient sources for hundreds of species of scavengers on…
2019 marks the second year of a decade-long $100,000 commitment from Maple Leaf Adventures to our research and conservation efforts on the BC Coast and, in particular, the Great Bear Rainforest. As the spring field program for Raincoast’s Salmon Carnivore program comes to an end…
Salmon biomass is a measure of the total kilograms of spawning salmon. Many who are in the role of implementing conservation strategies and policies think that when it comes to bears, or terrestrial wildlife, more salmon biomass simply means more eating. However, our recent research published…
Last year the Raincoast lab at UVic marked an important new milestone with the creation of the Raincoast Chair in Applied Conservation Science at the University of Victoria. This five year Chaired Professorship allows us to expand our research, teaching and outreach programs in community-driven applied conservation science. Our long-term vision is to train next…
With spring comes organized chaos as graduate students and research associates transition from laboratory work, data analysis and writing, to a flurry of preparation for an upcoming season of monitoring bears on the central coast of British Columbia. We are headed to Gitga’at, Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Nuxalk and Wuikinuxv Territories to join…
This study represents a decade of work covering an area reaching 1000km into BC and provides resource managers – Indigenous and Western alike – with dietary information from hundreds of bears across thousands of square kilometres, shedding light on the ecological interconnections of ecology in the expansive bear-salmon-human system…