The Province of Alberta has yet to make a decision on this year’s spring grizzly bear hunt and local environmentalists are hoping that the wait will lead to a cancellation of the hunt.

“I hope that the minister is finally getting the information he should have had a long time ago,” said Jill Seaton of the Jasper Environmental Association. The JEA, along with the Alberta Wilderness Association, Defenders of Wildlife and the Grizzly Bear Alliance, have been attempting to access new grizzly population data prepared by the province as part of its Grizzy Recovery Plan. This information has not been released to the public, but it is helping Sustainable Resource Development Minister David Coutts make a decision on the hunt, according to a department spokesperson.

Dave Ealey would not give a firm date for a decision on the hunt, which had been anticipated at the beginning of February, but said that it would have to happen in enough time to allow sufficient preparation if the hunt goes ahead. The season typically begins on April 1.

“The minister will announce it when he is ready to announce it,” Ealey said. “That’s his decision on the timing for that.”

Although the hunt involves a draw for licences, it would not take the province very long to organize a spring hunting session, Ealey said.

“It would be fairly straightforward, we already have the information of many past participants and we’d just put that back in the system.”

While Seaton and others believe that the delay means the minister will be making an informed decision, that view is not universally held in the conservation community. Dr. Paul Paquet, a noted large carnivore biologist, told the Rocky Mountain Outlook that he thinks the wait has more to do with politics than science. 

“They are surveying the public right now, that’s clear, and then they can position themselves on the announcement,” he said. “Their concern is how this plays out politically.”

Seaton admits that cynical approach could be a factor.

“It could be a part of it. I hope it won’t and I hope the information that the minister is seeing is as it was.”

At the heart of concerns over provincial information is data on population figures that could challenge the current estimates of how many grizzlies are living in Alberta. When several environmentalists visited Minister Coutts in Edmonton late in January, they reported that he had not be been briefed on the most recent information. 

That’s changed, said Dave Ealey. 

“The minister is fully briefed on all the information he needs to make the decision,” said Ealey. “That includes everything that we have in the department and that has been reviewed.”

This includes information that, up until one month ago, the province said was unavailable to the public because it was undergoing peer review.

“It’s gone through the peer review process now,” said Ealey, who added that the choice to release that data now lies with the minister.

“The minister will look at how he wants to do that and he’ll announce how he will proceed when he makes the decision on whether or not there will be a hunt.”

Just last week, the president of the Alberta Fish and Game Association called for the province to retain the spring grizzly hunt, echoing the province’s claim that it was a mechanism to help control problem bears.

“They are hunting bears up against the borders of Jasper National Park,” said Jill Seaton in response. “Those aren’t problem bears, they are park bears.”

In 2005, 73 licences were issued, leading to the hunting of 10 bears across the province. The licences are restricted to certain wildlife management areas, with the majority of permits given for remote areas in northwestern Alberta. However, licences were issued for the management unit bordering Jasper National Park, and three of the 10 kills were made in this area, according to Seaton.

It’s information like this that makes it hard for Seaton to accept that the province is managing the hunt and the grizzly population effectively. 

“They’ve got two committees there, both of whom have said: classify the grizzly bear as a threatened species and stop the hunt.”

Not only has the province ignored these recommendations, they have also reprimanded Gordon Stenhouse, a key player in the recovery planning process and, until recently, the chief bear biologist for the province. Seaton believes senior provincial civil servants need to look in the mirror.

“Quite frankly, I don’t think its Gord Stenhouse that should be fired; people should be looking at the top bureaucrats in the department,” she said.