‘We always carry a gun now’: Grizzly bears push farther into the Alberta prairies

Grizzly bears and signs of dens are showing up in parts of southern Alberta that they haven't called home for more than a century.

For 80 years, Clint Marr’s family has been ranching cattle near Twin Butte, Alta., and while sharing the land with wildlife has long been the norm, coexisting with an increasing number of grizzly bears has become harder to manage in recent years.

“Although there were always bears here, there’s now quite a few more and they’ve now taken up residence,” he said.

“We had a snowfall the other day and there were plenty of tracks. We’re still getting sightings of them or very close.”

Marr has lost many cattle to grizzlies—a problem that until the last few years was quite rare.

“We’ve had bears come right into our corrals and kill calves there,” he said.

“At today’s prices, calves are worth in the $3,000 to $5,000 range. So, if they kill a couple of calves, that’s in the tens of thousands for sure.”

The increasing number of grizzlies causing problems has Marr carrying a gun while checking fences or walking the property—something he never used to do.

He also doesn’t let his granddaughter roam the land the way he or his children did growing up in the area.

“Just about every rancher in this area has run into a bear on a fence line or when they’re calving and there’s bluff charges and we’ve had neighbours bucked off their horses when a bear charged him or chased them back into their vehicles or their house,” he said.

Researchers in southern Alberta are now looking to speak to landowners about grizzly bear sightings, as suspected dens pop up in parts of the prairies that haven’t been inhabited by the animals for more than a century.

The Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association’s Carnivores and Communities Program (CACP) is in the early stages of a project looking to connect with southern Alberta property owners, particularly in the prairies and grasslands, who have found a bear den or suspect there may be one nearby.

“We’ve been hearing through the community that they are seeing bears farther and farther east and seeing those bears quite early in the spring and late into the fall and heard anecdotally from folks that they thought bears were denning,” said Andrea Morehouse, science lead with CACP.

Historically, grizzlies roamed the prairies freely and were documented by early explorers, fur traders and Indigenous groups as being widespread in the grasslands and as far as the Saskatchewan border.

As settlements increased in the early 1900s, the populations were pushed out and were essentially eradicated from the prairies.

The project is still in its infancy stages but there is already evidence of dens in areas far east of Highway 2 and as far south as Del Bonita.

“We’re talking 20 to 30 years that those bears have been in some of those newer areas, and that boundary seems to be pushing further and further east as the years go by,” said Morehouse.

Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said the expansion of grizzly bears into former traditional territories reflects that the government’s grizzly bear recovery program has been very successful since its implementation in 2008.

“There’s definitely movement there. … The populations are growing and expanding to areas they haven’t been in recent history,” said Loewen.

However, Morehouse said it’s difficult to say for sure because the most recent population data for southwestern Alberta is from 2013-14.

“It’s more speculation as to what’s happening with the population as opposed to being able to point to some concrete numbers but certainly there’s evidence that the larger population has increased over the last couple of decades and has grown from what it was, and as that happens, bears are moving into new places,” said Morehouse.

The Alberta Wilderness Association said it is also unclear whether the population is recovering or just being pushed out of the mountains by more people, tourism and development.

Morehouse said more grizzly sightings don’t necessarily translate to more dens on the prairies, with research out of Montana indicating many bears will travel to the prairies before returning to the mountains to den.

That’s why she wants to connect with landowners who’ve had encounters or suspect dens nearby and investigate what’s causing the grizzlies to push farther into the prairies and more traditional territories.

“It means people are encountering them for the first time and having new challenges to deal with that they haven’t before,” said Morehouse.

“So, we need to address those challenges and make sure folks have some tools to ensure they’re safe and that their economic losses are minimized.”

Marr said while there is a government compensation program available for lost cattle due to predators, it’s not easy to collect those funds.

He’d like to see the government reintroduce a hunting licence for grizzly bears that was suspended 20 years ago to allow ranchers to address problem bears on their properties.

“If you’ve got a bad bear, you’ve got a bad bear. And they need to be dealt with,” he said.

“There’s lots of good bears out here that are territorial and if they’re not harming cattle, they actually keep the bad bears out. But if you’ve got a bad bear, it’s a big problem for everyone—for Fish and Wildlife, for the tourism and for mainly the ranchers who have to suffer the financial consequences.”

The government faced backlash after introducing a targeted hunt on the threatened species last year but Loewen said there are currently no plans to expand the program.

However, he is concerned about the increase in encounters and bear attacks in the prairies.

In August, a man was attacked by a grizzly bear in Cardston.

“There was a mauling this year and a mauling last year. There have been several attacks this year, so there’s definitely more negative grizzly bear-human interaction and that’s definitely a concern,” Loewen said.

Loewen said his ministry will continue to monitor the expansion of grizzly bears in the prairies and what that means for wildlife management policy.

“There’s a lot of worry, I think, in rural Alberta where the bears have expanded into where they haven’t been traditionally and so I think we have to keep our eye on that and make sure that Albertans are safe and feel safe,” he said.

Southern Alberta landowners with a suspected den on or near their properties are encouraged to report it to CACP.