To the editor;
Regarding the article in this week’s (April 6) Star/Journal re: B.C.’s boreal caribou recovery plan – this is extremely misleading! It seems to be inviting public comment on the caribou decline which has been much in the local news lately – specifically, the rapidly declining Wells Gray herd.
In fact, this recovery plan has nothing at all to do with our local caribou which, although the same species, live in very different habitat. The caribou in, and adjacent to Wells Gray Park are termed the ‘Southern Mountain Caribou’ population.
The B.C boreal caribou recovery program referred to in this article is aimed at the caribou herds in northeastern B.C., north of Fort St. John – nothing to do with us. Check out the link given in the article.
The B.C. government does NOT appear to be inviting public input on the management of the local population. Logging plans within their habitat (identified as ‘critical caribou habitat’ under the federal Species at Risk 2014 study) appear to be fixed and non-negotiable.
Be good if someone from the paper could get a government comment on this.
Bev Henry
Barriere, B.C.
Editor’s note: Our readers may find the following recently released study of interest: The February 2017 Canada-British Columbia Southern Mountain Caribou (Central Group) Protection Study prepared for the purpose of supporting a review of legislation used to manage Southern Mountain Caribou and their habitat in B.C. It can be found at: https://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/ProtectionStudy-Smc-central-v01-0217-Eng.pdf
