B.C. permitting snowmobiling in sensitive caribou habitat despite the concerns of biologists… 

Caribou protection plan falls short
By Jim Cooperman
A Shuswap Passion column for the Shuswap Market News
March 13, 2009

The provincial government recently made an announcement about the progress made with its British Columbia’s Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan. The Ministry of Environment’s Information Bulletin boasts, ‘More than two million hectares off limits for logging and road building, and one million hectares of alpine caribou habitat out of reach for snow machines in the B.C. Interior.: A coalition of environmental groups called the Mountain Caribou Project applauded the news but pointed out that much of the plan can be termed an ‘IOU: because more efforts are still needed in order for the plan to succeed.

The ten-member coalition, which includes the Shuswap Environmental Action Society, points out that habitat is still at risk from mineral exploration development and motorized recreation. As well, logging restrictions contain too many loopholes. Even though logging and road-building is apparently banned from ‘protected: caribou habitat, it will still be allowed if the blocks are 2 hectares or smaller, if it is needed to address ‘forest health factors,: if there has been a mapping error, or if a road is needed to access timber adjacent to the protected area. Also, it appears that heli-ski and snow-cat ski operations may be able to log in caribou habitat to provide more areas for skiing.

According to the coalition, the provincial government still needs to: ‘act on all the science-based recommendations to close mountain caribou habitat to winter motorized recreation; boost caribou numbers in threatened herds with animals transplanted from elsewhere to ensure herds achieve critical mass for self-sufficiency; ensure that any activities within designated habitat support the recovery goals and require a caribou biologist’s review of any development; ensure that large areas of critical caribou habitat that were missed through mapping errors are protected; and ensure that predator strategies are transparent and that wolves and cougars are not the scapegoats for incomplete habitat protections.:

Here in the Shuswap, approximately 40 percent of the habitat for the three remaining herds totalling some 60 animals is protected from logging. Efforts to protect this habitat began during the Okanagan Shuswap Land and Resource Management planning process that provided the direction for 6 years of research that culminated in the identification of approximately 10,000 hectares of additional old growth forest habitat. However it was the government’s caribou initiative that helped to convince the forest licensees to give up their rights to logging these forests.

Although more habitat has been protected from logging, the government’s plan to restrict snowmobile use is flawed. The Ministry of Environment intends to make an exception for the snowmobile closure in the Mt. Grace plateau to accommodate the desire of the Seymour Arm snowmobile club to continue riding in this area. Announcing a snowmobile closure, while making an exception behind the scenes has been a political decision that was not supported by government wildlife experts.

In a 2005 report, wildlife scientists reported that the Mt. Grace area contains a large portion of the late winter range of the Columbia North subpopulation that have not been previously exposed to snowmobile activity. The report goes on to warn, ‘there is potential that future snowmobile activity could be detrimental to the large numbers of caribou that use this area.: The Queest Mountain area is also caribou habitat, however snowmobile activity occurs south of the closure area that is just west of North Queest.

Most snowmobiling is done by individuals not connected with the clubs, yet the government is signing management agreements with the clubs to control where the riding takes place. These agreements are expected to be self-monitored by the clubs, although the Ministry does intend to also do some monitoring on a rotating basis. Yet the environment ministry that is reeling from an 11 percent cut in their budget is hardly in any shape to watch over thousands of hectares and prevent snowmobilers from disturbing caribou.

It is a sad state of affairs that the provincial government can allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to the Olympics, BC Place stadium, highways and bridges and another giant convention centre; yet it pleads poverty when money is needed to protect the environment. And why are the recreational desires of a few snowmobilers a higher priority than the need to safeguard an irreplaceable legacy by protecting the rapidly diminishing population of mountain caribou?