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The B.C. government is being criticized by an independent agency for its management of a threatened grizzly bear population in the Kettle-Granby area.

The Forests Practices Board said the province hasn’t effectively managed the risk that forestry roads pose to the bears.

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It also said forestry licensees have not met density limits recommended by the government for the roads.

Low numbers of grizzly bears in the Kettle-Granby area north of Grand Forks near the U.S. border first became a concern in the 1990s, although the board said the population has stabilized or increased in the past 20 years.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development confirmed a 2015 inventory of the grizzly bear population in the area found an increase in numbers along with an expansion of the range that the bear inhabit.

Still, the board said the population of grizzlies remain threatened as it is about half of what the area is estimated to support.