Exploring wildlife in Wuikinuxv

This image, taken of a bear scratching its back against a tree, was taken with a trail camera in Wuikinuxv. (Photo by NCC)

July 4, 2014 | by Megan Adams

We just transitioned out of Wuikinuxv, so now is the perfect time to give a spring update.

The Wuikinuxv bear monitoring project was a huge success in 2014. With support from Wuikinuxv Nation, the Tula Foundation, Raincoast Conservation, and the University of Victoria, we conducted bear monitoring over 4,000 square kilometres and collected upwards of 500 samples in more than 50 different locations.

The bears look great this year — multiple cubs and glossy coats. They must have had a good winter last year.

Thanks to the support of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), we were able to see this in the bears that share the land around Wuikinuxv village through the remote cameras. We can check the cameras with the school kids, so they can see the bears, wolves and cougars that they live alongside. We detected twice as many bear events (not necessarily individual bears, but clearly they are out and about more) on camera as we did in 2013 around Wuikinuxv village and on adjacent NCC property.

The Bear Team was excited to host a crew of NCC staff to show them our methodologies and spend time with the school kids doing science programming. We also chatted with the NCC team about their methodologies and explored some really beautiful places on NCC lands we would not have otherwise gone to. On one NCC property, we set up a quick bear hair sampling site and a remote camera, and detected three different bears!

Clearly, these lands are important places for species like tailed frogs and grizzly bears, and for local people to enjoy.

About the Author

Megan Adams is a PhD student with the Applied Conservation Science lab at the University of Victoria, British Columbia.

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