A study from the Canadian Journal of Zoology found that grizzly bears known to visit ecotourism sites are less likely to encounter human conflict than predicted by chance.
In Nuxalk Territory, human/grizzly bear conflict occurred around 41 to 58 km downstream from known ecotourism sites. In order to determine the frequency at which the bears involved in conflict were at ecotourism sites, researches screened for genetic matches between 118 individuals detected upstream via hair snags, including 34 at ecotour sites, and those involved in conflict.
In one tested scenario, which considered all detected and undetected grizzly bears in the region as freely mixing, ecotour bears were less likely to encounter conflict. They also tested a scenario that assumed downstream bears were not necessarily a part of the same population as those sampled upstream. No evidence of a significant difference was found.
Collectively, both analyses suggest other human-caused drivers of conflict, rather than ecotourism. One considered explanation was that conflict-prone bears inhabit more human-dominated areas downstream, while ecotour bears don’t seek out human-related food sources due to the abundance of salmon in the ecotour areas.