Complaint Investigation – IRC/210
August 2017

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Government should confirm its population recovery objective and develop a strategy that includes a population target for the Kettle-Granby grizzly bear population unit that can be used to guide habitat management and industrial planning decisions.
2. Government should consider revising GAR Order 8-373, in light of the recent grizzly bear research in the Kettle-Granby area and the failure to meet the road density targets through voluntary guidance. This reconsideration should weigh the benefits of road density and secure core area measures to government’s recovery objectives for the Kettle-Granby grizzly bear population unit against an informed assessment of any material adverse effects on delivered wood costs.
3. Government should provide leadership to reduce the current risks to bears in the KettleGranby area. Government should lead local licensees and BCTS in an operational planning process for roads and timber harvesting in the Kettle-Granby specified area that protects high value bear habitat and addresses access management, such as road deactivation and regulatory road closures, while integrating with timber objectives. The Board’s previous reports on access management may be helpful to this exercise.
4. Government should monitor the amount of open road density, secure core area, and grizzly population size and distribution over time and make further adjustments to management and legal requirements if and as needed.

Response to Recommendations