TH E WI ID L IFEFrom trapping beavers and slaughtering bison to banding geeseand tracking dragonfies, wildlife management principles andpractices have evolved dramatically over the past century

B Y B R I A N P A Y T O N

S t r r r , V I T H E R E D , I N E R T .

Packed inside enormous glassjars, their small bodies sharedshelf soace with curls of lizardskin, shards of shark cartilageand a colossal overstock ofgin-seng. This was not what I hadcome to see. I was on anundercover tour of VancouvertChinatown, hunting for prod-ucts containine illicit bear bile,which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. My guide,Ernie Cooper, Canada's top wildlife-trafficking inves-tigator, was being increasingly thwarted in his search. Thebear-bile trade had effectively gone underground. Instead,Cooper was turning his attention to the subtle nuancesdistinguishing the nearly 50 species of sea horse, many ofwhich are threatened.

It was the summer of 2003, and I was preparing for ajourney in search of the world's eight remaining bearspecies, planning to visit their various habitats, hoping tocome closer to understanding their place in our sharedhistory. Canadian bears, I was aware of. Cambodian sunbears? Andean spectacled bears? Indian sloth bears?'S?'hoknew such creatures existed, let alone the threats they face.I would write a book. My subject would be those swag-gering icons of the wilderness. Adult males of severalbear species are known to kill and eat young cubs. Seahorses? After mating, these dainry males become pregnantand actually give birth to their offspring. This was my

guide's simple request: con-sider the sea horse.

Cooper began h is careerfocused on a single, unam-biguous goal: to save the blackrhinoceros. He would make apersonal contribution to pre-venting the extinction of thatmagnificent beast. Over theyears, he has helped staunchthe trade in rhino horn, bear

bile and numerous other wildlife products. The work wassometimes frustrating, thankless, heartbreaking. Thencame a realization. Rhinos, bears and orcas are all highlycharismatic species that provoke an emotional response inus. They have always commanded our attention and, oflate, our concern. But what of the vast majoriry of lesscaptivating, less majestic creatures that exist out of sight andmind? If we truly hope to save what remains of the naturalworld, said Cooper, we should take a good long look in themirror, focus on the problem, then buckle down.

VrnurN, cAME, FUR-BEARERs, \7e Canadians believe weknow a thing or two about wildlife and wilderness, havinglong defined ourselves by our relationship with and againstthem. \7e have always taken pride in our abiliry to carye outa living from the seemingly inexhaustible abundance ofour lands and adjacent seas. And when that abundanceappears under threat, we hope for the best and trust in thatCanadian knack for somehow muddling through.

1rl.T*.

"t

'*

Early wilcl l i fe management inCanada consisted largely ofcul l ing animals classif ied aspests. After many antelopehad fal len prey to wolves near

Wainwriqht, Alta., hunters(olnosrrr, circa 19"10-"17)

displayed their bounty o125 pelts. This dark-variant grey

wolf (eeovr) sl ipped through

a hole in the fence along theTrans-Canada Highway and

was struck by traffic west ofBanff in 2008.

\Triters of the d^y strained their vocabularies in an attemptto capture the former plenitude of North American bison,

l ( l f t t . )tne monarcn ot tne plarns.A century ago, this soft sentiment was sucker-punched by

the loss of a common bird. It is estimated that three billionto five billion passenger pigeons inhabited North Americaprior to European settlement. In 17th-century New France,Samuel de Champlain reported that they were "countless innumber," while Franciscan missionary Gabriel Sagard-Theodat wrote of their "infinite multitudes." For nearlythree more centuries, flocks of the gregarious birds dark-ened summer skies throughout the Maritimes, southern

Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Their call issaid to have resembled the croak of a wood frog. The last timeanyone heard or saw a wild passenger pigeon in Canada wason May 18,1902, at Penetanguishene, Ont. On Septemberl, 1914, the last known representative of the species fell tothe {loor of its cage at the CincinnatiZoo. The passengerpigeon is survived by its closest relative, the more melodiousmourning dove.

This loss was keenly felt by the generation of geogra-phers, travellers, editors, writers and photographers wholaunched rhe Canadian GeographicalJournalin May 1930- "16 make the resources of Canada, economic as wellas aesthetic, better known both at home and abroad." Theybegan publishing just in time for that classic economicdownrurn, the Great Depression.

Despite the annihilation of what may have been the mostabundant bird species to have ever lived, this generation ofCanadians remained committed followers of the directive,spelled out in the Book of Genesis, to

"subdue ... and have

dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of theair, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

Clearly, wildlife was ours for the taking. If we took toomuch, as with the passenger pigeon, it was a case of waste-fulness. At worst, it was gluttony. For a growing number of

Canadians, however, it was clear that the concept of domin-ion had to evolve. This evolution would take the form ofwildlife management, a task best accomplished - Canadiansbelieved - through local oversight and control.

This provincial roll-up-your-sleeves ethic was personifiedbyJohnThomas [ack) Miner. Atransplanted Ohioan, Minerestablished one of North America's first bird sanctuaries on hishomestead near Kingsville, Ont. His pleas for the conserya-tion ofwaterfowl captured the imagination of Canadians -

and that of much of the English-speaking world. A self-taught naturalist, Miner began an early bird-banding programin August 1909, catching and releasing ducks and geese,newly accessorized with aluminum bands engraved with anumber, his address and a biblical inscription, such as I Peter5-7:

"Cast all your care upon God." Five months later, one

i

of his ducks, a mallard, was shot from the skies over SouthCarolina, and its band was returned to sender, therebycompleting the first banding record in North America.

Hunters in the United States were quick to connect the dom.Bird banding, a revolutionary wildlife management tool,helped establish the fact that the vast majoriq, of the ducks andgeese they bagged were actually born and fedged north oftheborder. -W4ren they realized it was in their interest to prorecrsome of these key Canadian breeding sites, they invested, mak-ing significant and lasting contributions to bird sanctuaries inManitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. For American hunters,these sanctuaries were to serve as "duck factories" for theproduction of game. In 1938, this wildlife management effortbecame Ducks Unlimited Canada.

Miner learned his banding technique from PerryAlgernonTavernet a fellow self-taught naturalist and the first ornithol-ogist at the National Museum of Canada (now the CanadianMuseum of Nature) in Ottawa. While both men played

Y

FI

I

4

Az1ond

EEo

od

z

-

5ozu

I r &e r

r.iJ..P

The decimation of bison(onnosrrr) on the prair ies

symbolizes al l that was wrong

with the human treatment

of wi ldl i fe. But the rumbling

ungulate herds regenerated,

thanks to the creation of pro-

tected spaces such as Buffalo

Nationaf Park (rrrr, circa "1928-

30), near Wainwright, Alta.,

from 1909 to 1947, and Wood

Buffalo National Park, estab-

l i shed in "1922 in A lber ta and

the Northwest Territories. From

the 1930s to the 1960s, young

bison were often corral led.

branded and relocated.

.+ + r,&,rr,:|i-Ijr s4 ,

,rS"',1,- ' + ' Y '' s l '

Itl,n';'":

i

3 4 C A N A D I A N G E O G R A P H I C D E C E M B E R 2 O O 9

.':*..:!+s'd

Unravelling the mysreries of DNA has provided eye-openingconfirmation that we share infinitely more with anim;ls thanmost of us ever imagined.significant roles in Canadak wildlife conservarion and man-agement efforts, it was Miner who struck a deep culturalchord with Canadians. "God put birds and animals here formant use and conrrol," he *.oie, articulating the overwhelm-ingly popular senrimenr, one that unquestionably inspiredEuropeans to subdue and dominate the continent, a senti-ment, it could be argued, that continues to result in thedestruction of the natural world. Should anyone have missedthe lesson in the disappearance of that once most abundantbird, Canadians seemed poised to repeat it with the bison.

\Triters of the day strained their vocabularies in an amemptto capture the former plenitude of North American bison,the "monarch

of the plains," a species whose numbers haddeclined from estimates as high as 70 million to, ar one poinr,1,091 individuals. This time, Canadians were unwillins tostand idly by. \il/ood Buffalo National Park was establsledin northeastern Alberta and the southern NorthwestTerritories, and between 7925 and1928, acore populationof surviving plains bison was shipped from another refugenear Wainwright, Alta., to the new protected range. Theysoon mixed with the resident wood bison, a disdnctly north-ern and slightly larger variery. Although clearly well inten-tioned, this management effort resulted in the hybridizationofthe two subspecies, a destructive outbreak oftubercu-losis and an introduction to the unforeseen consequencesof managing wildlife populations. Itt a story that would playout again and again across the counrry: favour a species byremoving its predators or concenrrating numbers, thenwatch that species become a danger toitselfor its habitat.

As the Roaring Twenties faded intothe Dirty Thirties, a new and osren-sibly aboriginal voice for conservationwas captur ing the at tent ion ofCanadians - the voice of an Enslishi m migranr named Arch ibald Belaney.Dur ing h is unhappy chi ldhood,Belaney developed a lifelong obses-sion with North American Indians.He eventual ly made h is way toCanada, claimed a mix ofApache andScotrish ancesrry and reinvented him-self as Grey Owl.

This imposter 's commirmenr ropreserving wildlife and wilderness,howevet proved genuine. As Grey Owl,Belaney wrote numerous articles andseveral best-selling boola. His writing,lecture tours and films - featurinshimself and his family of per beavershelped nudge publ ic opin ion awayfrom viewinq wild animals in terms of

The granddaddy of al l hunting trophies,antlers (eaove) from a moose shot in theYukon in 1897 measured two metresacross. Herds of caribou (oetosrre) aremonitored for signs of cyclical crashes.

their utiliry to seeing them in a more flattering, anrhropo-morphic light. He proposed a fundamental reconsiderationof our relationship with wilderness, one rhar directly chal-Ienged the concept of dominion. "You

belong ro narure,"wrote Grey Owl, "and not it to you."

DrNsr, wARM, LUxuRTANT. If we Canadians had areputation in the 17th through 19th centuries, it was for thequaliry ofour furs. To ensure a steady supply ofbeaver peltsand profits, the Hudsont Bay Company long ago imple-mented far-reaching wildlife managemenr measures in theterritories under its control. Meanwhile, early tolonialgovernments concerned themselves with establishing localbag limits and hunting seasons ro conserve specific gamespecies. To protect these animals, as well as domestic live-stock, bounties were placed on the heads, tails, ears and wingsof various predators, a practice that persisted in some juris-dictions into the 1970s. These species were cast as thieves thatmade their living by taking what righdy belonged to us.

The fur trade continued to define wildlife managemenrin much of Northern Canada deep into the 20th cenrury.In the more populous and urbanized sourh, however,Canadians were fall ing under the spell of AmericanProgressivist thinking, which viewed wildlife as a resourceto be managed in the manner of crops. This fit ever sosnugly with previous norions of dominion.

Under the banner of 'wise use," this philosophy became

the modern justification for the exploitation of wildlife and

' . a

=5

trFao

o

z

i

=oz0

ofthe forests, rivers, oceans and air inwhich they lived. Otherwise uselesslichen and willow stems could andshould be transformed into prime cursof caribou, elk, moose - syen [i566 -in support of human progress. In \7oodBuffalo National Park, wildlife man-agers began harvesting and markedngbison meat , a pract ice showcasedwith the sale of wild-bison burgersat Expo 67 . But a paradigm shift wasunder way in the philosophy of wildlifemanagement, one that favoured thenon-consumptize use of animals.

Aboriginal people have always huntedand fished for susrenance. By themid-20th century however, the killingof wild animals for food was falling outof favour with society at large.Increasingly, wildlife was being viewed asa source of pleasure and entertainmentfor the taxpaying public, such as view-ing or photographing animals innational parks. Salt licks were placed

' 6 C A N A D I A N C E O G R A P H I C D E C E M B E R 2 O O 9

I

EI

dz!

::to

oz

u*

E!'

lF

o

along the road in Banff National Park to lure wildlife intofirll public view. On BanffAvenue, a sign directing motorists'to the bears" led to the town dump. Inside various nationalparks, bears were being fed marshmallows by hand.Unsurprisingly, the frequency of conflict with wildlifeincreased. Remarkably, this modern non-consumptive viewofwildlife use also included trophy hunting, as long as theprimary purpose of the hunt was for "sport"

and nor meatto feed onet family.

As urbanization accelerated, Canadians were becomingdisassociated from wildlife and wilderness. Ho*errer, *!still imagined ourselves connected through excursionsbeyond the suburbs to hike, camp or lounge at the familycottage. As proportionally fewer Canadians actually livednear wildlife, it became someone elset problem: the profes-sional wildlife manager. Local control increasingly gayewayto regional, provincial, national and even internationalstrategies to manage an ever-expanding range of species -from blue whales ro monarch butterfies.

Throughout the balance ofthe 20th cenrury, the con-cept of dominion evolved into benevolent stewardship.1ffild animals were being seen as having innate, aestheric,even "spiritual"

value. Birdwatching grew as huntingdeclined. Commercial whaling faded from memory;commercial whale-watching continued to rise. While thetrophy hunt for grizzly bears persists to this day, bear view-ing at natural food sources, such as salmon srreams orsedge marshes, is growing in populariry. In 2008, a singlebear-viewing operation in British Columbia brought in$3.2 million - more than was generated province-wide bythe entire grizzly bear hunt.

As the concept of ecosystems became widely understood,wildlife managers saw not only the importance of settingaside protected places for the benefit offavoured species butalso the need to prorecr functioning natural sysrems. Despitethis more sophisticated understanding, rhe cause of preser-vation remained in need of compelling spokespeople andmarquee animal stars. Canadians felt passionate aboutsaving bison and grizzly bears, and this passion could betransformed into protection. Managers and conservationistscame to view these large, dynamic mammals as keystonespecies of their habitats. Marshal efforts to save the animal

at (or near) the top ofthe food chain, and potentially savemuch of the ecosysrem upop which it depends. Or so thetheory goes. In recenr years, this concept has been applied- with notable success - on British Columbias vast andvague Mid Coast, which conservationists have rebranded theGreat Bear Rainforest.

Sometimes this approach requires the recasting of ananimal's reputarion. In 1953, Farley Mowat ser our rorehabilitate that age-old villain Canis lupus, with thepublication of Neuer Cry Wolf, a title that remains bothpotent and controversial. Perhaps no single book has soinfuenced perceptions of wildlife in this country. LikeGrey Owl before him, Mowat led readers ro see rhem-selves refected in the lives of wild animals. MarsarerAtwood has described Mowat's work as "the

sparklhatstruck the tinder that ignited the fire from which gener-ations of writers and activists have lit" their torches."Some of those readers, wrirers and activists abandoned thenotion of dominion altogether. Some came to see humanbeings as a kind of failed animal; others viewed our exis-tence as a plague upon the Earrh.

GPS, cenrnRA TRAps, soDruM pENToBARBtrnr . I tknever been easy to get wild animals to co-operare in theirown management. As our philosophical relationship towildlife conrinued to evolve, so did the tools and techniquesfor managing the relationship.

Following the success of large-scale bird banding as amethod for gathering data, the tagging of all manner ofanimals began in earnesr. In the 1960s, radio collars helpedresearchers uncover more about the secret lives of animalsthan confinement or autopsies ever could. In the days beforetranquilizer darts, wild bears had to be trapped and subduedso that anaestheric could be injected, by hand, directly intotheir abdomens. Rough, dirry and dangerous, this techniqueproduced revelatory, hard-won data - and the occasionaldisastrous result for both bears and their handlers.

Surveillance technology improved as the Cold \War settledin. VHF radio transmitters became smaller and morepowerful, until units were being successfully fitted to hum-mingbirds and dragonflies. Radio telemetry, which requiresresearchers to be within a short range ofthe subject, advanced

to satellite telemetry which allows animals to be trackedon home computers from virtually anywhere on Earth.Field observation, aided by binoculars and telephotolenses, was augmented with "camera

traps," employingmotion-activated video and infrared photography. Bythe close of the century, DNA was being collectedfrom hair samples, providing a much less irivasive and

A herd of elk (r,nrvrous nncrs) unknowinglyrisks death for a lick of salt on Alberta'sDavid Thompson Highway. Field research.such as biologist Gordon Stenhouse'slong-term study of grizzly bears (r-rrr)along the boundaries of Canada's RockyMountain parks, generates subtle insightsinto Ursus orctos horribilis (oaeosrrr).

4 0 C A N A D I A N C E O C R A P H I C D E C E M B E R 2 O O 9

We will be forced to ensure that corridors are open for newwaves of refugees - animals and ecosystems travelling norrhin search of relief in a hotter, drier world.more deeply penetrating look into the lives and lineages ofwildlife populations. Unravelling the mysteries of DNA hasprovided eye-opening confirmation that we share infinitelymore with animals than most of us ever imaeined.

InJune, an international summit of bear-biologists andwildlife managers was held in Nelson, B.C. Among thepresenters was Michael Proctor, an independent researchscientist who, as a graduate student, performed the worldtfirst DNA census of a grizzly bear population in southwest-ern Brit ish Columbia. Also in atrendance was ChrisServheen of the University of Montana, one of the pre-eminent authoriries on grizzly bears. Servheen made apoint of formally thanking his Canadian colleagues,including Proctor. He explained that the remnanr popula-tions of grizzlies in northern Monrana, Idaho and\Washington depend on the genetic diversity of the free-ranging, healthy and robust bear populations in \(/esternCanada. These bears hold "dual

citizenship." \7ere it notfor the work of wildlife managers in British Columbia,Servheen declared, "there

is no chance we would havebears in the [continental] U.S. \7e can't do it alone."

And yet the United States has led the world in so manyconservation and wildlife manasemenr initiatives - fromthe creation of the first nario;l parks and meaningfulwildlife protection legislation ro non-governmental conser-vation organizations, such as the Sierra Club and TheNature Conservancy. Each of these has profoundlyinfluenced wildlife conservarion and managemenr inCanada. Servheen hopes Canadians will continue to learnfrom the American experience - particularly what not todo. IfAmerican wildlife managers have been a srep or rwoahead in developing solutions to wildlife challenges, heexplains, it's only because their needs have been more acute,their problems more overwhelming, their losses more pro-found. While the United States may be further down theroad toward wildlife restorarion, Canada still has a chanceto effect meaningful preservation. His advice to Canadians?

"There, but for the grace of God, go you. If you take

something for granred, it's likely ro go away. \7e took all wehad for granted.'Ve took our bison for granted. \7e took ourgrizzlies and elk for granted. AII these [populations] havecome back because we started putting care into their man-agement. But if you think it will never happen to you, well... I would be very, very careful. The road to hell is pavedwith those kinds of intentions."

So much for muddling through.

OlrNrvonous, ADAITABLE, pRolrFrc. In 1968, thoseworking in the fields ofwildlife managemenr and conserva-tion met a new challenge to received wisdom in the form ofan essay by ecologist Garrett Hardin entitled "The Tiagedyof the Commons." In ir, Hardin explored the idea that free

4 2 C A N A D I A N C E O C R A P H I C D E C E M B E R 2 O O 9

individuals exercising rational self-interest (read: domin-ion) over a limited, shared resource will not conserve burunwittingly doom the resource for all. Now add to thispicture the activities of self-interested transnational corpo-rations. Since the publication of his essay, the tragedy Hardinoutlined can be seen playing itselfout in the accelerating,worldwide human-caused loss of species and biodiversirythat has become known as the Sixrh Extinction.

Theories abound about how we will be managing wildlifein the years and decades to come. Some see a move toward"deep

ecology," a philosophical awareness of the inherentworth of other beings; a belief that, as Grey Owl suggested,we are a part of nature and not above it. Some propose amove toward "bioeconomics,"

the study and method ofvaluing living resources according ro economic models.\X4rat Servheen, Proctor and many other wildlifc managersagree on is that previously established national parks andprotected places will not suffrce in a changing climate. \7ewill be forced to ensure that corridors are oDen for new wavesof refugees - animals and ecosystems tiavelling north insearch of relief in a hotter, drier world.

Over the course of eight decades, Canadian Geographichxinvestigated a nariont failings and celebrated irs successes inthe realm ofwildlife management, from the plight ofprairiesongbirds and mountain caribou to the remarkable returnofbeavers and bald eagles. Is Canada sdll a place - a soci-ery - that can be defined by its relationship to the wild?

After that day in Vancouver's Chinatown, I travelledto Chine, Italy, India, Cambodia and Peru, collecting storiesabout the state of the worldt eight remaining bear speciesand the people who share their habitats. The result was rhebook Shadoru of tbe Bear: Tiauels in Vanishing Wilderness.Vrtually werywhere I wenr, I encountered an astonishing lossof both wildlife and individuals determined to stem the tide.Although I returned with more quesrions rhan answers,I managed to pick up a few convictions along the way.

This i know to be true: Canada is endowed with a singularabundance; Canadians with an immense responsibility.'Whatalso seems increasingly clear is that the furure will be lessabout drawing imaginary lines between wilderness and civi-lization, between Canada and the rest of the olanet. \What

remains to be seen is whether we will abdicate our imaginedreign over "the

fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,and over every living thing" in time - in time to exercise realdominion over that most unruly beast of all.

Vancouuer-based writer Brian Paytonls latest booh zs The IcePassage: ATiue Story ofAmbition, Disaster and Endurancein the Arctic Wilderness.

4J] - comment, please e-mail editor@canadiangeographic.ca

L-|< or vtstt www.canadiangeographic.ca.