Food and habitat used by grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Front Ranges of Banff National Park were studied during 1976-80 using fecal analysis, feeding site examination, direct observation, and radio-tracking. Important foods included pink hedysarum (Hedysarum alpinum) roots, yellow hedysarum (H. sulphurescens) roots, bearberries (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), graminoids, horsetails (Equisetum arvense), buffaloberries (Shepherdia canadensis), and Vaccinium spp. fruits. Most foods were eaten in dry meadows, shrubfields, or open forest. Horsetails were the only notable exception; many feeding sites occurred in mature forest. The alpine zone was unimportant as feeding habitat. Seasonal changes in diet and habitat use appeared to be related to plant phenology with bears eating plant parts which seemed to be at nutritious development stages. Hedysarum roots, the bears' major food, had significantly less crude protein and more fiber when plants were flowering than when they were in pre-leaf. Related to this, digging by bears was minimal during the midsummer flowering period. Seasonal habitat use also appeared to be influenced by hedysarum phenology. As the spring digging season progressed, hedysarum diggings occurred more on north-facing slopes and at higher elevations, where phenology was retarded. Later-season root digging was inversely related to buffaloberry abundance: the volume of roots in feces during August-October was greater in 1976 and 1978, 2 years when buffaloberry abundance was significantly lower than in 1977 or 1979. We concluded that buffaloberries, known to be high in soluble carbohydrate, were preferred over hedysarum roots. During summer, grizzly bears ate horsetails in sites where the plants were in immature, nutritious development stages. The elevation of horsetail feeding sites was significantly higher in late July-August than in early July. Grizzly bears thus ate food high in soluble nutrients and low in fiber by making seasonal changes in both the food and habitat they selected. Int. Conf. Bear Res. and Manage. 7:199-213 This research documents the food habits and habitat use of grizzly bears in the Cascade and Panther valleys of Banff National Park. In addition, we have tried to understand why grizzly bears switched from 1 food to another, or moved from 1 habitat type to another. The quality, quantity, and availability of food at certain seasons or in certain habitat types were the variables considered in these analyses. This project was made possible through the cooperation of Parks Canada. In addition to financial support, we acknowledge the assistance of Parks Canada employees A.

Buffaloberry [Shepherdia canadensis (L.) NM.] fruits are the usual late-summer food for bears (Ursus spp.) in the Front Ranges of Banff National Park, but little is known about the effect of tire or other factors on fruit production. I assessed the association between fruit production (fruits mm2 of buffaloberry shrub) and environmental factors at 76 plots in Banff National Park and found a negative association with forest canopy cover. Forest canopy cover.accounted for 70% of the variation in fruit production. Fruit production also decreased from NNE to SSWfacing slopes, but this effect was small compared to the decrease associated with increasing forest canopy cover. Forty plots were re-established at or near the original 76 sites the following year. A strong negative association between fruit production and forest canopy cover again occurred, but there was no significant association between fruit production and slope aspect. Fruit production began 5 years after fire in 2 recent burns. In sites burned 23 and 25 years ago, fruit production was comparable to that recorded in older-aged burns, and already was low at one site in the 25year-old burn where regenerating lodgepole pine (pinus contorta Dougl.) canopy cover measured 72%. Many sites in older burns, however, have remained forest-free due to xeric site conditions, chinook wind, avalanching, or other factors. These open sites were associated with abundant fruit. Managers must consider the prolonged effects of fire when assessing relationships among fiie, forest canopy cover, and buffaloberry fruit production.

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In five of six observations of courting grizzly (brown) bears (Ursus arctos), pairs were isolated on a summit or upper-elevation ridge where the male repeatedly blocked the female's descent. These observations substantiate an earlier single observation of this mating behaviour. Similar isolation of mating grizzly bears on summits or ridges has not been reported elsewhere in North America. The habitat of the mating areas is described. The areas were not grizzly bear feeding habitat. Food intake evidently was reduced during the period of isolation. These observations are interpreted as male sequestering of an oestrus female and female testing of male vigour.