In the story ‘Controversy grows over B.C.’s five-year wolf cull program’ published in the Lakes District News’ Sept. 30, 2015 issue, the province had launched a wolf cull program with the goal of killing up to 180 wolves to protect caribou herds.
Bad weather and a low snowpack made it more difficult for the province to reach their initial goal, resulting in 84 wolves killed in two areas – the South Selkirk Mountains and the South Peace.
According to a story published by The Globe and Mail, briefing notes prepared for meetings between B.C. environment minister Mary Polak and industry representatives in 2014 might indicate the government was prompted by the forest industry to launch the wolf cull program.
“Tolko [Industries Ltd.] is concerned about potential impacts of the federal recovery strategy for the woodland caribou,” says one of the notes.
A federal recovery plan for caribou would demand more logging areas be set aside.
The Globe and Mail points out that at the time of the meetings in 2014, the wolf cull program had not yet been launched. What was already in place was the mountain caribou recovery implementation program (MCRIP), which had set aside forest land, established a captive breeding program for caribou and limited recreational snowmobile access in caribou areas.
“Actions within the MCRIP have largely been implemented with the exception of effectively managing wolf populations,” states another briefing note. “Industry has criticized government for failing to effectively implement this recovery action, and will be very reluctant to forgo additional harvesting opportunities to meet any additional habitat targets imposed by the federal recovery strategy.”
The briefing notes were obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request filed by Wilderness Committee director Gwen Barlee. She told The Globe and Mail she is alarmed by how closely the government and the forest industry appear to have been working.
“Are we having the B.C. government write recovery strategies for species at risk, or are we having logging companies writing recovery strategies for species at risk?” she asked.
During a media scrum in the legislature last week, environment minister Mary Polak said the briefing notes should not have come as a surprise.
“I don’t think anyone would be surprised to hear that the forest industry would want to encourage us not to protect more [caribou] habitat,” she said. “That would be a standard response from industry.”
She continued, “I don’t they [forest industry] would be surprised to hear that the environmental organizations would want us to protect more [caribou habitat]; it’s standard information that would be provided to a minister ahead of the meeting to advise the minister what the position is of the particular group they are meeting with.”
Polak said moving to a cull of wolves was the result of an “emergency situation with a rapid declining individual [caribou] herd.”
“It’s not province-wide, it’s targeted, and it has the support of the local environmental organization,” she said.
According to the province, the operational plans for both the Selkirks and South Peace wolf cull have been independently peer-reviewed. In addition, the province says the wolf cull program is being employed in conjunction with ongoing habitat protection efforts.
“Habitat recovery continues to be an important part of caribou recovery, but cannot address the critical needs of these herds in the short term,” said the province in a press release.
With a wolf population estimated to range between 5300 and 11,600, the provincial government says wolf populations are plentiful, and that the grey wolf is not a species of concern in B.C.
“The risk of removing the number of wolves recommended is very low, whereas the risk to pertinent caribou populations of doing nothing is very high.”
