The Ministry of Forests , Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development is looking for feedback from the public regarding their $27-million provincial caribou recovery program, Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development announced.
“We have started the work on caribou recovery, but more needs to be done,” said Donaldson.
“The provincial caribou recovery program will consider ways to reduce threats to caribou, while balancing the needs of all British Columbians, including Indigenous communities, industry, recreation enthusiasts and the public.”
Originally, the Province committed to $27 million over three years to build a comprehensive, science-based approach to protect and preserve B.C.’s 54 caribou herds.
The number of woodland caribou in B.C. has declined, from 40,000 to less than 19,000, since the early 1900s. This made-in-B.C. recovery program aims to restore this iconic Canadian species to a sustainable population.
In related news, it was reported last week that the last remaining herd of caribou to roam the contiguous United States is believed to be on the brink of disappearing, after an aerial count suggested that only three members survived the winter – all of them female.
That herd were once part of a larger population of southern mountain caribou whose habitat spanned much of the Pacific Northwest. But human activity – from hunting to logging and snowmobiling – has forced the population to break off into small herds.
In 2009, the herd was estimated to have about 50 members, living in an ecosystem that stretched from British Columbia to Washington and Idaho.
Considered threatened under the federal Species At Risk Act, the federal government has recently increased its efforts to protect the woodland caribou. The Province has also implemented detailed recovery plans that include caribou habitat recovery and restoration, predator management and increased maternal protection.
Those protections have recently been cited as one of the issues holding up a proposed mining development by New Gold at their Blackwater site.
In addition to recently held stakeholder sessions, the ministry is reaching out to Indigenous communities for their input. All feedback gathered will help to inform the provincial caribou recovery program, which will be shared with the public in the spring of 2019.
The public is invited to provide feedback before the June 15 deadline at engage.gov.bc.ca/caribou.
