Sylvia Dolson - Executive Director

Sylvia has been involved with the Get Bear Smart Society since 1996. In 1997 she became a director and co-chair of Whistler's Black Bear Task Team which established and implemented a Black Bear Management Plan for the municipality of Whistler, B.C. The plan was developed to minimize human/bear conflicts through effective waste management; extensive educational programs, rigorous enforcement and a non-lethal bear management program.

Sylvia has been a key player in establishing Whistler as the province's first Bear Smart community and plans to expand the Society's many educational and training programs provincially. She also authored the Guidebook: Non-lethal Bear Management. This guide has been used as a reference to manage bears throughout North America as well as a political tool to lobby governments on behalf of bears.

As the executive director of GBS, Sylvia is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities and maintaining the direction of the Society such that it's mandate, goals and objectives are realized. Sylvia is also a member of the International Bear Association and attends their conferences representing the Society's vision for coexistence. She participates in numerous workshops throughout B.C. as a speaker and provides consultations to other bear aware groups and communities interested in becoming Bear Smart.

As a wildlife photographer and freelance writer, Sylvia spends most of her free time in the company of bears. She enjoys walking with bears - observing and photographing their natural behaviour in the wild.

Although Sylvia's formal education provided her with an Honours Degree in Business Administration (1979) from the University of Western Ontario, her passion and commitment lie in animal welfare and protection. Her vision is for a greater coexistence - one in which people and bears live in harmony.

Ainslie Willock - President, Director of Outreach

As a long time animal rights advocate, Ainslie has worked with the Animal Alliance of Canada (Founding Director, Directed The Bear Alliance and the Canadian Alliance for Furbearing Animals), Toronto Humane Society (Coordinator, Canadian Anti-Fur Alliance), Animal Protection Institute (Project Coordinator) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Canada) (Project Coordinator). Ainslie also worked for a number of years as a City Councillor's Assistant gaining valuable experience of how decisions are made in the political arena. She graduated from the University of Waterloo with an Honours, Bachelor of Environmental Studies degree. Ainslie is a member of the International Bear Association (IBA). Having walked with wild blacks and grizzlies, she's been fortunate to experience the true nature of bears. She's currently under contract with the Humane Society of the United States, representing the interests of bears, snow geese and furbearers in Canada.

Ainslie's persistent hard work and dedication to animals is surpassed only by her passion as their advocate. She is responsible for creating public pressure and lobbying politicians for campaigns from stopping the spring bear hunt in Ontario; to a prohibition on the sale and possession of bear gallbladders in Ontario and Quebec; to securing legislation to protect furbearers in the European Community. Ainslie has worked extensively on anti-fur campaigns resulting in significantly fewer animals being cruelly trapped; provided submissions to an assessment process regarding the translocation of grizzly re-introduction program; worked to introduce bear rehabilitation programs across North America; coordinated and marketed human/bear friendly management techniques to provincial/municipal jurisdictions. As a member of the IBA she attends their workshops, provides articles for their newsletter and participates in forming their captive bear release policy.

A lifetime of campaigning for the well being of animals, and years of experience and cooperation with many diverse groups around the world to help animals makes Ainslie position as Director of Outreach for the Society a perfect fit! She looks forward to the day when animals are liberated - a day when it's just accepted and common place that animals have rights.

Wayne McCrory - Vice President, Director of Research

Wayne McCrory is a professional biologist and ecosystem research expert who specializes in bears. He has worked on numerous government and private bear studies throughout western Canada, including 15 park areas. He served for 3 years on the B.C. government's grizzly bear scientific advisory committee. He has been a public advisor on a committee formed by the B.C. Wildlife Branch to draft interim grizzly bear management guidelines for the Kootenay Boundary Land Use Plan.

As one of the original founders of the Valhalla Wilderness Society, Wayne's career as a bear conservationist began with a campaign to protect the Valhalla Range, successful in 1983. He went on to spearhead the drive to save the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary (1993) and the White Grizzly (Goat Range) Park (1995). Collectively, these areas represent almost half a million acres of protected habitats for bears in both the Interior and Coastal Temperate Rainforests. Last year the B.C. government announced protection of 135,000 ha of a Spirit Bear Protection Area. McCrory spearheaded the fourteen-year project - a 250,000 hectare conservancy proposal to protect the coastal rainforest home to the white kermode or spirit bear, grizzly bears and over 60 salmon streams.

McCrory teaches outdoor bear safety courses and guides and advises numerous film crews for bear documentaries. He has also published numerous reports on bear ecology and conservation as well as bear hazard studies in numerous parks, developing programs to minimize conflicts between people and bears. He has also carried out environmental impact assessments, including the impacts of clearcut logging and roads on bears and other wildlife. He has published or co-authored 7 scientific papers on his work, and over 50 technical reports

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Dan LeGrandeur - Director of Training, Non-lethal Bear Management Program Instructor

As a former B.C. Conservation Officer of 12 years, Dan gained considerable experience in managing human/bear conflicts. Dan was a member of Whistler's Black Bear Task Team. In 1999, Dan implemented Canada's first non/lethal bear management program in Whistler.

Having worked in a wide range of environments from the urban areas of North and West Vancouver to the coastal and rural areas of southwestern B.C., Dan has gained extensive experience dealing with a wide variety of conflict situations (farming/ranching, urban areas, remote camps) involving both blacks and grizzlies. His knowledge in all aspects of human/bear conflicts further includes educational training (creating Bear Smart communities, bear safety, etc.) trapping, relocation, and tranquilizing. Dan is also a qualified firearms instructor and has considerable experience conducting training courses and public speaking.

More on Dan's courses

Crystal McMillan- Director, Community Relations

Crystal has resided in Ucluelet, B.C. since 1984 where she has successfully owned and operated her own business including commercial trade in gift retail, a nutrition centre and her own yoga studio. Crystal also received the 2006 "Ucluelet Citizen of the Year" award.

Crystal is the founder of the Pacific Rim Bear Smart Committee which began in the spring of 2004. With the support and partnership of the local Conservation Officer Service, the Ministry of Environment, the local government and dedicated volunteers she has been successful in leading the District of Ucluelet to become a forerunner in Bear Smart Community management.

Her main goal is to achieve well monitored and municipally driven Bear Smart programs in communities of high risk human-bear conflicts. Crystal enjoys networking with kindred communities. Her compassion and empathy for the well-being of bears and her life-long passion for the natural environment is her driving force in ascertaining mitigative solutions to human-bear conflicts.

John Beecham - Director of Conflict Management Applications

John has been involved in bear research and management since 1972. He completed his Ph.D. (Population characteristics, denning, and growth patterns of black bears in Idaho) at the University of Montana in 1980. He is a past president of the International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) and has also served that organization has a Council member, associate editor, and newsletter editor.

John worked for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for over 29 years, including 12 years conducting research on black bears. During his years in the field as a research biologist, John designed and conducted research on black bear ecology in six geographic areas of Idaho and was responsible for capturing over 1,500 black bears and collecting information on their population dynamics, food habits, reproductive biology, denning ecology, movements, habitat use, and mortality factors. John has published numerous scientific papers on bear ecology and bear rehabilitation methods, and co-authored, with Jeff Rohlman, a book entitled A Shadow in the Forest - Idaho's Black Bear that was published by the University of Idaho Press in 1994. He has also written numerous popular articles for Idaho Wildlife magazine and appeared in several television documentaries about his work with bears and was a co-author for the Cougar Management Guidelines that were published in 2005. During the last 15 years of his career with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, John supervised the wildlife research program for the state and was the statewide program manager for black bear, cougar, moose, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats.

John has been involved in rehabilitation and release of black bears in Idaho and has participated in the release of over 200-orphaned black bears. He recently completed a white paper titled Orphan Bear Cubs -Rehabilitation and Release Guidelines, and continues to work as a consultant on efforts to release orphan bears back to the wild in the U.S. and other countries, and on human-bear conflict issues in Turkey.

Dr. Lynn Rogers - Scientific Advisor, Bear Behaviour

Dr. Lynn Rogers, a wildlife research biologist, has been studying black bears for 35 years, sharing his information with the public. Using airplanes, vehicles, and snowshoes, he radio-tracked over 100 bears in the vast forests of northeastern Minnesota, studying some for as long as 22 years. His unorthodox research techniques, pioneered in Northeastern Minnesota, have been emulated around the world. Rogers learned that he could form trusting relationships with these intelligent animals, even with mothers with cubs. He began spending 24-hour periods walking and resting with them, detailing their activities, diet, ecology, social organization, vocalizations, and more. His unique ability to build a trusting relationship with his research bears, allows him to radio collar them without the use of a tranquilizer. He has climbed into the dens of hibernating bears and even gone so far as to insert a rectal thermometer.

New discoveries continue to be made as Rogers focuses on learning how we can better coexist with bears. Rogers' study is the source of much of the scientific information on black bear behaviour available today. He has written over a hundred scientific articles on black bear behaviour and ecology and has edited many scientific articles, books, and TV scripts to assure accuracy before they are published or broadcast. He shares his knowledge through lectures, workshops, and museum exhibits and is a consultant for legislatures, government agencies, and private organizations across America. For over three decades, the media has carried his information to millions of people each year, contributing to an improved public attitude toward black bears. Today, people are allowing black bears to repopulate parts of America where bears have not lived for over a century. Regarded by many as the Jane Goodall of black bears, Rogers has a Ph.D. in Ecology and Behavioural Biology from the University of Minnesota. Rewards include the Quality Research Award from the U. S. Forest Service and the Anna M. Jackson Award from the American Society of Mammalogists.

More on Dr. Rogers

Benjamin Kilham - Researcher, Naturalist, Author

The subject of features in The New York Times and People Magazine as well as a guest on the "Today Show" and the "Late Show with David Letterman," Ben Kilham enchanted the world with his stories of mothering twenty-six black bear cubs over the last ten years. National Geographic called him Mother Bear Man.

In the Spring of 1993 Kilham, a woodsman from New Hampshire, took in a pair of orphaned wild black bears. It wasn't until these first cubs denned up for the winter that he had time to reflect upon his observations. After the 395 hours he had just spent walking with the cubs in their natural world, the 510 hours he spent caring for them, and the 96 hours he spent taking field notes, he knew more than the dozen scientific articles that existed on black bears. He had, in fact, discovered unknown facets of bear behavior that could radically revise our understanding of animal behaviour.

Without an existing model of bear behavior, Kilham set out to create one based on his observations. Watching the daily development of the cubs and slowly adding new sets of cubs to his family, enabled Kilham to check and recheck his analysis. In the end, Kilham reveals that black bears are highly social individuals, who share resources, form hierarchies, and who have structured kinship relationships. They have the ability to share insight, to plan, deceive, and to communicate intentionally with an innate physical and verbal language. Kilham's findings have provided invaluable insight into managing human-bear conflicts through a better understanding of bear behaviour. His workshops provide wildlife managers with the needed tools to disarm threatening bear behaviour without destroying the bear.

Ben's latest book AMONG THE BEARS: Raising Orphan Cubs in the Wild is at once a groundbreaking work of science and a truly personal story of the bond between animals and humans. Heralded as "Compelling…a vivid picture of ursine social life and intelligence" by the New York Times Book Review, AMONG THE BEARS chronicles the behavior of two sets of cubs as well as Kilham's touching personal connection with them. Squirty, Little Boy, Little Girl, and Curls as he has affectionately named them are in many ways his family and become enthralling and memorable characters. AMONG THE BEARS is an enlightening first look at the behavior of the species.

For more information, see Kilham's website. Watch Kilham on YouTube.

Carrie Hunt - Bear Conflict & Wildlife Service Dog Specialist, Founder and Director, Wind River Bear Institute and Bear Shepherding

Carrie Hunt has been a bear biologist working with government and private groups for over 30 years throughout North America and internationally. Hunt is known for her pioneering work in the area of bear-human conflict resolution and in particular for her work in modifying wild bear behavior through the use of repellents, deterrents and conditioning. She developed the use of the red pepper spray system that today is widely used to turn approaching bears. She also conducted the first investigations of aversive conditioning of wild, free-ranging grizzly bears with problem behaviors, by using rubber bullets.

Hunt founded and developed the Wind River Bear Institute (WRBI) and its Programs: the "Partners-In-Life" program and Wind River Karelian Bear Dogs. Hunt developed the concept of "Bear Shepherding" that simultaneously teaches humans to prevent conflicts and teaches problem bears behaviorally based lessons that create boundary awareness and avoidance of humans and developed sites. The Institute was the first group to use operant conditioning principles to teach bears, by pairing human voices with rubber bullets and ferocious dogs. These are the same "modern training techniques" that are used in training dolphins and dogs. The Institute has demonstrated through its work that bears learn and retain this training. Along with the concept of Bear Shepherding, Hunt identified and developed the use of and training methods for Karelian Bear Dogs as Wildlife Service Dogs to assist in bear conservation through the Program. WRBI has successfully trained and used KBDs for Bear Shepherding since 1990.

More information on training.

Evelyn Kirkaldy

Evelyn is an experienced graphic designer and illustrator, with a background in advertising, who has won several awards for her work. She has taught design and illustration to adults as well as children, but currently she prefers to teach them about bears. Her design skills are now regularly employed to create educational material for the Get Bear Smart Society. Evelyn wrote, illustrated and designed the educational activity book: 'BEAR SMART KIDS - A Book to Make you Smarter than the Average Bear'. She has also produced a large body of fine art in a variety of mediums, depicting images of bears and their natural habitat.

Evelyn's interest was triggered by her love of the outdoors but undermined by an intense fear of bears. Evelyn has since 'walked with bears; brown, black, and white. For a number of years she was involved in the protection of grizzly bears and spearheaded several campaigns to end over-hunting and habitat degradation. Eventually she felt that dispelling myths and teaching people about the real nature of urban bears might be a powerful tool in fostering empathy and gaining public support for ending the practices that jeopardize the lives of all bears.

Evelyn has been teaching bear awareness since 1996. She began by giving bear safety workshops in various wilderness campouts and served as camp bear safety coordinator with several outdoor organizations including the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

As a founding member and spokesperson of the North Shore Black Bear Task Team in North Vancouver, she was instrumental in the declaration of the first annual 'Bear Awareness Week' in 2000 and coordinated the week's activities.

She helped launch Black Bear Task Team efforts in the Village of Lion's Bay and served as community bear education advisor to several lower mainland and BC initiatives.

As a Member of the Board for the 'Society for Bear Protection and Relocation' in West Vancouver, she served as spokesperson and Director of Education.

Evelyn is presently living the Kootenays. Once again she worked with city officials to launch Nelson's first annual Bear Smart week in 2002 and is now actively involved in bear smart education as the chair of the Kootenay Chapter of the Get Bear Smart Society.