Arguably, understanding the policy landscape in which carnivore conservation occurs is important to achieve desired goals and objectives for species and the people expected to live with them and implement policy action. However, the conservation literature is more limited in assessing the perspectives different people hold for grizzly bear conservation in a policy context.

Previous human dimensions research on grizzly bear conservation has accounted for the values and attitudes different groups of people hold for these bears, as well as their views on conflict mitigation strategies. Since their threatened species listing in 2010, grizzly bear recovery has been a controversial policy issue in Alberta, Canada particularly because this charismatic carnivore represents a diverse set of values, both positive (e.g., an icon of beauty and the wilderness) and negative (e.g., a safety threat and economic risk to peoples’ livelihoods). 4Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.3Winisk Research and Consulting, Bellevue, AB, Canada.2Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States.1Alberta Environment and Parks, Government of Alberta, Peace River, AB, Canada.

Courtney Hughes 1*, Nicholas Yarmey 2, Andrea Morehouse 3 and Scott Nielsen 4

Are grizzly bears hand dominant