The proposed ban of roadside hunting of grizzly bears in southwest Yukon has been shelved – for now.

The Yukon government announced Friday its acceptance of the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board’s recommendation to keep the same roadside hunting regulations and develop a grizzly bear management plan and educational initiatives.

Environment Minister Wade Istchenko told the Star this morning that the acceptance of the regulations was due to the thorough work and extensive public consultation administered by the management board in making its recommendations.

The grizzly management plan will be the first of its kind in the territory, aiming to emphasize education and safety with sections such as wildlife viewing, harvesting, habitat sections, human use and appreciation.

“The government has always been firm on having a management plan before regulation changes,” says the board’s executive director, Graham Van Tighem.

In the board’s recommendations to Istchenko, it is pointed out that in 2010, proposed changes to wolf hunting regulations were also put aside until the Yukon’s wolf conservation and management plan was amended.

Istchenko told the Star the wolf management plan had great success in addressing polarized viewpoints on hunting regulations.

In making a management plan for grizzlies, the board would be working closely with the Department of Environment, First Nations governments, Renewable Resource Councils (RRCs) and members of the public.

Whether it should be legal to hunt both black and grizzly bears along highway rights-of-way has been a topic of passionate public debate for many years.

Retired RCMP officer Ken Gabb, who lives on the Atlin Road, is disappointed in the government’s decision.

“I think they failed to take into account that roads aren’t designed as hunting corridors,” he said, “and most hunters wouldn’t drive down the road and shoot a bear in the ditch anyways.... Opportunistic slaughterers of wildlife, that’s what they are.”

After a series of meetings last year, the board asked the minister to put forward a regulation change in June.

The minister proposed an amendment to ban hunting grizzly bears within 30 metres from the centre line of a highway during the spring bear hunting season.

Following extensive public consultation on the proposal, the board in January forwarded its recommendation to shelf the amendment for now.

In March, the Environment minister made the unusual decision to release the management board’s recommendations to the public, given that it was an issue of high public interest.

The issue will be revisited in the future, Istchenko notes in Friday’s press release.