Using demographic data, trends in food sources, and the monitoring of mortality sources, the SRGBP to monitor and manage the grizzly bear population in the Southern Rockies of British Columbia, so that the population can remain stable and viable for the future.
Identifying factors that drive trends in population structure and size allows scientists to make better informed decisions and allows for the appropriate actions to be taken in order to preserve the Southern Rockies population of grizzly bears.
Reproduction rates were the lowest ever recorded for grizzly bears in North America in the South Flathead region, between 1998 and 2010 (McLellan, 2015). The South Rockies GBPU is also thought to have experienced low recruitment in concert with very high mortality during the same time period (Lamb et al. 2016). This low recruitment was associated with very low huckleberry production compared to earlier decades (McLellan, 2015). It is important to not only monitor the grizzly bears themselves but also their food sources, like huckleberry.