Bear Monitoring Program
From 2017 to 2019, Sea to Cedar worked with the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation (KHFN) on a three year pilot program focused on monitoring bear populations in the lower portion of the Wakeman River. This area is in the traditional territory of the KHFN.
Each year, we brought community members and summer students from the KHFN to join the bear research team. Together we gathered information by placing remote wildlife cameras and non-invasive hair snagging stations in areas that carnivores frequent. Hair that was collected was sent for genetic analysis to identify individual bears. All data collected is co-owned by Sea to Cedar and the KHFN.
We are grateful to the KHFN, Salmon Coast Field Station, and Nimmo Bay Resort for their support with the field logistics of this program. This monitoring program was part of a broader carnivore monitoring collaboration, led by Coastal First Nations, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and the Spirit Bear Research Foundation.
