In 2o23 we celebrate that B.C. grizzlies have had 6 years of respite from being shot for sport due to a successful campaign to ban the grizzly bear trophy hunt in 2017, however  grizzlies are still listed as a species of special concern on multiple conservation lists, and face numerous threats to their survival.  On July 12, 2023 the B.C government released a draft of the Grizzly Bear Stewardship Framework, a 75-page document outlining how grizzly bears in British Columbia are to be stewarded moving forward, but what does stewardship actually mean in this context? The draft Grizzly Bear Stewardship Framework failed to include a definition, and crafting one was part of the goal of the Indigenous Roundtable hosted by the Grizzly Bear Foundation on November 30th, 2023. Pacific Wild was honoured to attend and listen to the Indigenous leaders discuss  the wording and content of the draft Stewardship Framework and we look to their leadership on moving forward in a better way for grizzlies.

The draft Grizzly Bear Stewardship Framework was the first update for B.C. grizzly conservation in almost 30 years.  Despite the draft document’s title, it is not a policy framework, nor is it the grizzly bear management plan required by the Species at Risk Act (SARA). The document is a collection of general information on grizzly bears (including outdated population estimates and a concerning downplaying of the threat of habitat loss and climate change) intended as a resource for newly-proposed local and regional committees that would take over the provincial and federal responsibilities towards grizzlies.

The draft framework provides no guidelines on how the committees would be formed, governed, or held accountable. While 32 of B.C.’s First Nations have participated in the framework draft process, the document does not outline how the newly-proposed regional structure would collaborate with First Nations in decision-making.

On October 5, Pacific Wild and Valhalla Wilderness society co-authored an 11-point open letter to the government in response to the proposed Grizzly Bear Stewardship Framework. This letter has the support of over 55 signatories representing environmental and animal care organisations, conservationists, scientists and nature-based businesses.

Please read Valhalla Wilderness Society’s highly informative Action Alert as well as our engagement survey notes for more details on our concerns and considerations regarding the draft Grizzly Bear Stewardship Framework.  While the public engagement feedback period is now closed, the passion for grizzly conservation it stirred was inspiring. 

In August, Pacific Wild, alongside over 40 other voices and organisations including UBCIC, requested an extension on the public engagement period from August 18th to December 31, 2023, as well as asking for other improvements to be made in the survey process. 

The petition for an extension to the public engagement period on grizzly bear stewardship gathered over 2000 signatures from B.C. residents in less than a week. ⁠Thanks to this pressure, the provincial government granted 3 extensions with the public engagement period coming to a close on October 31, 2023.