A rational discussion on grizzly bears and habitat
Since 1978, I have been watching and awaiting this moment when we as the Sea to Sky community come to face the challenge of living in unison with grizzly bears. For most of that time, people were generally in denial that these magnificent creatures actually inhabited many locales not far off the beaten track.
Those that did often treated them as a threat and dispatched them quickly with a rifle. As the remote South Coast Range became increasingly vehicle accessible through an unparalleled rate of landscape change brought on by wholesale clear-cut harvesting practices, this pattern of behaviour also accelerated. The combination of vast habitat destruction and unabated human predation brought grizzly bear populations to dangerously low numbers.
In many areas, these numbers remain of serious concern and mitigative strategies to stabilize fragile populations are yielding limited results. Where those conditions exist, government has opted to use a regulatory framework to increasingly control human interactions that are deemed to contribute to population loss. Much controversy exists over the validity of these actions.
Conservationists argue that we need to do almost anything to protect the balance. Outdoor recreationalists claim some conservationists intentionally malign their sports as being contributing factors to the decline without sufficient fact.
They point to the Yellowstone [National] Park experience, often touted as the hallmark of bear management. Prior to 1975 and measures placed on hunting, Yellowstone's bear community had dwindled to less than 150 bears. In that year, visitation to the Park was 2.2 million. With the introduction of an extensive public-education program and other mitigative measures, Yellowstone has recovered to a remarkable 700 grizzlies meanwhile increasing tourism to 4.4 million annual visits.
Outdoor recreationalists claim it's not the presence of human beings that is disruptive but rather the nature of the interaction. They point to the intellect of the grizzly, which by some scientists' measure is at least as developed as many primates. There are innumerable anecdotal reports of bear interactions with individual humans that can only be attributed to cognitive recognition and deduction.
Grizzly bears have been on the landscape longer than man. They have risen to the top of the food chain. They are incredibly intelligent creatures capable of making critical habitat decisions.
Many experienced mountain travellers brace when confronted with the assumption that the presence of a hiker or mountain biker equates in a bear's mind to that of a hunter or habitat destructing logger. The claim to do so, is to do a disservice to this animal's intellect. They believe bears readily determine threat on a daily basis and respond accordingly.
The fact that bear numbers are on the rise locally indicates that the theory of mere human presence as a threat to habitat needs to be validated in this environment.
Many question the motivations of "grizzly bear experts" as being elitist and overstating the issue in order to receive public support and research funds in a high-profile community like Whistler. They claim the backcountry recreation agenda has been hijacked by special interest.
My own personal opinion is we should all rejoice in the fact that the grizzly bear populations to the west of Whistler are showing significant return to historical levels.
Our ability to co-exist with them requires that we now exchange our fears for understanding, knowledge and respect.
Can we do a better job of planning in the future? Absolutely! But ... travelling or recreating in grizzly bear habitat is not unlike, or should at least be considered in the same context as, travelling in avalanche territory.
You need to be knowledgeable of the environment/conditions, situationally aware and prepared while carrying proper equipment. Just as with avalanches, you must do everything possible to limit your exposure to them.
Understand their diet and feeding habits and match them geographically to where these food sources exist at any particular time of the season. Avoid activities around dusk and dawn when feeding is most prevalent. Stay out of huckle and blueberry patches, avoid tenting by water courses and always make lots and lots of noise. Travel in groups.
Most of all ... respect that these are the natural inhabitants of the landscape and you are the intruder.
The vast majority of local residents are accustomed to assessing and managing risks while in the outdoors. We do it successfully all winter long.
In the case of bear management, what we need is better public education and planning initiatives, a sophisticated monitoring/reporting system and a management framework that reflects what is occurring on the landscape at any particular time.
We can do this. We can live together and both can thrive.
This is not to say that incidents won't occur—they do every winter. But it is a rational approach to a complex issue and puts the responsibility for the long-term sustainability of the bear back on the individual human, where it needs to be.
It will yield a much better long-term result than arguing over who is right or wrong and who can and cannot do what.
Brad Sills // Whistler
MAC launching survey
This period of isolation and slowdown in local business and tourism has given us all an opportunity to think about changes we might like to see in a post-COVID Whistler.
Many of us moved here in our youth because of the skiing and other outdoor recreational opportunities; we would like to be able to stay here in our golden years. When you are younger, you may not be thinking in these terms.
The most recent census data (2016) showed Whistler with a population of 11,854 permanent residents, of which about 24 per cent was over age 50, and approximately seven per cent was over age 65.
In the past year, several seniors who were longtime Whistler residents, with active social networks here, have had to move elsewhere for various reasons including better access to medical care, and lack of suitable accommodation.
To me, that is heartbreaking.
The Whistler Mature Action Community (MAC) is an organization that advocates on behalf of Whistler seniors and upcoming seniors, so that they can comfortably age in place.
MAC collaborates with the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the Whistler Community Services Society and others to make Whistler more responsive to the needs of its aging population, but we need information in order to target our efforts.
In the near future, MAC will be surveying seniors and upcoming seniors to better understand their needs and any barriers to making Whistler a more age-friendly community.
Please complete the survey to help us help you by bringing MAC's "age in place" vision into reality. For more, go to www.whistlermac.org.
Charalyn Kriz // Board member, Mature Action Community
Kindness on the road exists
I particularly enjoyed Vince Shuley's story on the friendliness of rural drivers ("The Outsider," Pique, June 11). I have covered a lot of the backroads in B.C., Yukon and the Northwest Territories and have found nothing but kindness and courtesy.
There is "the Rule of the Road," which says you never pass a car stopped at the side of the road without stopping and offering help. I've had a man spend almost two hours trying to get a flat tire off my camper van, and another time waited a full five minutes before a stranger stopped and changed my tire.
I've even stopped and offered help myself (to be politely refused, without cracking a smile).
The hospitality to strangers in northern B.C. and points north is amazing.
I've been invited to a First Nations fish fry after a casual conversation on a river crossing ferry. [And been] offered sunscreen and bug spray by canoe paddlers on the banks of the Yukon River.
People in the north and rural B.C. are kind and helpful and most welcoming to visitors. Go take a look at your own province now that we can't travel further.
Ruth Buzzard // Whistler
A grad to remember
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all who came out Saturday, June 13 to cheer on and celebrate the Grade 12 Pemberton Secondary Graduate Class of 2020.
As parents of a graduate involved, we were blown away!
From start to finish, the entire ceremony highlighted what a truly special place we live in. What could have been a dirge COVID graduation became an unforgettable day for everyone involved.
With the vision of Principal Krista Brynjolfson, our graduates celebrated their graduation by car parade, as a method of keeping distance and celebrating the occasion. The weather gods agreed as well.
What a procession it was. Starting from the old high-school grounds (now soccer fields), and led through town by the fire department and first responders, families and their graduates, drove through a village laden heavily with well-spaced supporters, families, friends and community members cheering them.
Balloons and posters, along with horns, drums, songs, and the grads-chosen playlist broadcasting via Mountain FM, created a joyful cacophony of sight and sound. It was a great accompaniment to the assortment of limos, pick-up trucks, minivans, station wagons, sports cars, family cars, sprinter vans and vintage convertibles carrying the grads to the current high-school site.
Upon arrival, students were called up, one family at a time, to the stage where they were awarded their graduation diplomas, as well as any bursaries or scholarships, and greeted by the mayor of Pemberton, Lil'wat representatives, N'Quatqua representatives and Samahquam representatives.
All this was done under the guidance of Vancouver Coastal Health. The volunteer marshals that had to enforce some of the social-distance guidelines should get extra kudos.
Following the diplomas, each student was led to a photography session provided by Toshi Kawano. The entire event was videoed and will be distributed to the students and families for keepsake.
We would like to personally thank Krista, vice-principal Brianne Aldcroft, Sasha McLachlan, Heather Quamme, Michele Garrett-Jones, Lisa McCullough, Dave Walden, Chris Nicholson, Brenda Lasnier, Tamara Beaton, Krista Walden, Boyd Hargitt, Mme. Girard and all the staff that helped to make this amazing day happen.
It will never be forgotten and we hope it becomes a Pemberton tradition for many years to come! It's said one of the first principles of community is "support your local schools" and we truly believe that. The Pemberton Secondary School is our community and we thank you.
Kendra Mazzei and Kevin Holland // Pemberton
Looking at Vail's political contributions
I wish to respond to Bruce Kay's Letter to the Editor on June 4 ("Vail Resorts can learn from Whistler youth").
Kay makes the altogether erroneous point (one that he's frequently made online) that Vail Resorts (VR) directly contributes to politicians or supports policies that are anti-climate change and not in favour of racial equality.
I'm not sure how often he has made this argument in print, but he recently challenged me as a "mountain-culture journalist" to examine Vail Resorts' ties to the Republican Party. Since I've written about both Vail Resorts and climate change in the past, I will point your readers to OpenSecrets.org, a registered non-profit that does a deep dive on campaign spending in the United States.
Its file on VR clearly states that, "The organization itself did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PACs (Political Action Committee), their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate family members."
This is consistent with what Mr. Rob Katz told Pique's editorial staff in 2018 when he said that VR had set up an employee PAC that enables the resort's employees to contribute to politicians and various causes. The amounts that VR employees are contributing is hardly mind-boggling; VR earns between US$300 million and US$700 million annually (depending on your tax methodology) and the sum total of its employees' campaign contributions is currently just over US$204,000.
Given the fact that the ski industry, and skiers in general, are inclined to be higher net-wealth earners and conservative in their viewpoints, it's quite surprising that Vail Resorts executives don't contribute more to a pro-business national party.
So far in 2020, Vail Resorts employees have supported Democratic candidates, including Bernie Sanders, by 96 per cent to four per cent. That isn't even close. (In 2018, the figure was 85-per-cent Democrat, 15-per-cent Republican). Vail Resorts might not do everything perfectly—who can?—but neither it nor its employees are significant contributors to the Republican Party in any way.
Mr. Kay's point, I suppose, is that Whistler's youth are doing more to bring issues of climate change and race to the fore.
It's pretty obvious to me that VR is well aware of these trends and that its employees are listening (as is the company itself; to wit: their Zero Footprint commitment by the year 2030).
That looks like both good leadership on the climate change file, and good business for its shareholders, too.
Steven Threndyle // North Vancouver
