Welcome back to our fall general meetings. Our next meeting will be on September 19 at the Heritage House in Riverside Park and the speaker will be Oliver Jumeau. 

Title: Kenkéknem (Ursus americanus, Black bear) foraging habits at a ski area in Skwelkwék’welt, south-central Secwepemcúl’ecw

Description: We studied the foraging habits of kenkéknem (Ursus americanus, American black bear) living at Sun Peaks Ski Resort in Skwelkwék’welt, south-central Secwepemcúl’ecw, during severe summer drought to determine whether seasonal shifts in foraging occurred from May to late August. We used scat analysis to identify the seasonal importance of different foods and found kenkéknem to display opportunistic food consumption that reflected seasonal shifts in food quality and abundance.

Bio: Olivier Jumeau is a 23-year-old Master’s of Science student at TRU with a strong interest in animal-wildfire relationships. He is currently studying the 100-year impacts of wildfire on caribou habitat in Ulkatcho Territory, working closely with the Ulkatcho First Nation of Anahim Lake. Preceding his Master’s, Olivier studied the impacts of Nordic ski-hill development on black bear summer diet. When he isn’t biking up to Sun Peaks to collect bear scat, he is swimming, collecting conifer cones, and Nordic skiing in the winter. During the school year, he plays goalkeeper for the TRU Wolfpack Men’s soccer, for which he was part of the infamous 2022 U-Sports National Championship victory.