CANADA鈥檚 oldest and most famous national park is failing the wildlife it was set up to protect. So claims a researcher who has found that black bears in Banff National Park in Alberta are dying in the same numbers as their unprotected cousins and that the park鈥檚 so-called 鈥渢rouble鈥� bears have a poorer chance of surviving than bears in some hunted populations.
Mark Hebblewhite at the University of Alberta in Edmonton blames his findings on the number of tourists visiting the park. He says their interests are being put before those of the animals. His claims will fuel an ongoing row over the increasing commercialisation of Banff.
Hebblewhite led a team studying black bear survival and reproductive rates in Banff National Park from 1994 to 1999. A survey of 25 animals, roughly half of the park鈥檚 bear population, revealed that just 84 per cent of adult bears survive each year, which is no better than in unprotected populations. Of the 鈥渕anagement-problem鈥� bears 鈥� those that have become accustomed to humans 鈥� one in three die each year, a higher proportion than in several hunted populations outside the park.
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The team鈥檚 research, to be published in a future issue of Biological Conservation, will bolster environmentalists鈥� claims that the park 鈥� part of a UNESCO world heritage site 鈥� is sacrificing conservation for profit. That debate has so far focused mainly on the park鈥檚 grizzly bears. Since 1971, 107 grizzlies have died in Banff National Park due to the presence of humans in one way or another. Some are hit by cars or trains, says biologist Steve Herrero at the University of Calgary, but many have been shot or relocated after raiding rubbish bins and getting used to people. In contrast, biologists have been able to confirm less than a dozen bear deaths due to natural causes.
Since 1996, visitor numbers have grown by about 700,000 from just under 4 million, and the number of people passing through on the trans-Canada highway has grown by a similar number.
Hebblewhite says that the heritage agency Parks Canada should be doing more to protect wildlife, by erecting fences around campsites, making tourists travel along popular routes on buses, and closing areas of the park to tourists for part of each season.
But Michel Boivin, a superintendent at Banff and two other parks, says that Hebblewhite鈥檚 recommendations are already either planned or in progress. Buses now run between two lakes within the park 鈥� although they are used by just 4 per cent of people travelling the route 鈥� and there are plans to fence off the town of Lake Louise.
Boivin strongly refutes the allegation that the park is putting profit before wildlife. He says that management decisions have to take into account the needs of visitors. Ecological integrity is not the only priority, he told New Scientist.
But Hebblewhite counters that his study should sound alarm bells, and that action must be taken now to protect the park鈥檚 bears. He points out that the Canada National Parks Act specifies that the 鈥渕aintenance or restoration of ecological integrity鈥� rather than visitor numbers should be the first priority for the country鈥檚 parks.
