First Nation Tribe Discovers Grizzly Bear "Highway" in Its Backyard
A new study reveals that more grizzlies live among Canada's Heiltsuk people than they suspected.
The Heiltsuk live near the Koeye watershed—69 square miles (179 square kilometers) of temperate forest on the central British Columbia coast—and they thought about a dozen grizzlies lived in their midst. But a scientific study, led by the Heiltsuk and published in late June in the journal Ecology and Society, found that the Koeye actually hosts at least 57. That's not your average bear density.
By comparison, Yellowstone National Park is about 3,472 square miles (8,992 square kilometers) and hosts only about 150 grizzly bears.
"It was a bit of a shock to me," says William Housty, lead author of the study and director of Coastwatch, the research arm of the Heiltsuk First Nation.
Not that it's surprising that grizzly
