Resource Management Technician, Parks Canada

Mindy’s Question: How can we foster ecological resilience?

Keystone Title: Huckleberry Monitoring: A Tool to Inform Human-Bear Conflict Management in Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks

Abstract: Exploring the relationship between bear activity, huckleberry production, and human-bear conflict, Mindy’s Keystone presents the results of a huckleberry monitoring field study in Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks. Huckleberry production was measured according to elevation, biomass, and disease rate data, producing a complex picture of the abundance of this important black bear and grizzly bear food source. Based on this data, this paper recommends that huckleberry production should be monitored in order to identify correlations with bear activity and human-bear conflicts, and that abiotic variables should be measured and correlations identified with huckleberry production data to determine cost-effective and accurate methods of bear behaviour predictions.

What Concentration Courses did you take?

Behavioural Ecology (Life Sciences)
Plant Biodiversity (Life Sciences)
Doing Science: Research Design and Communication (Life Sciences)
Coastal Field Ecology (Life Sciences)
Marine and Coastal Conservation (Interdisciplinary)
Independent Study: Wildlife Conservation and Management (Life Sciences)
Introduction to Ethnobotany (Life Sciences)
Exploring the Ecological Self (Interdisciplinary)

What are some of the things you did outside the classroom?
I worked as a researcher and field technician for Parks Canada. In this role, I led a research project to measure huckleberry production, and designed a long-term monitoring program as part of my Keystone.