Logging companies, snowmobile clubs, heli-ski operations and a coalition of ten environmental groups had negotiated the plan. But in reality, the issues that would make and life-or-death difference to the mountain caribou had not been determined: where would the protection be located?

 

The Government and its "partners" assured the public that the location of the areas to be protected would be available in March.

Today, nearly one year since the plan was announced, and five months after the location of the protected areas was due to be finalized, no plan has yet been approved. This makes approximately five years that BC has been working on a plan to save the mountain caribou.  All the while, logging has been destroying the habitat of this rare and endangered caribou.

However, "stakeholder" input on the draft Government Actions Regulation Orders were completed on August 20. "The plan that is coming is an extinction plan for the mountain caribou," says VWW's plan reviewer, Craig Pettitt.

• "From the beginning, the government had said that the plan could protect no more than 1% of the Timber Harvesting Land Base (THLB). This was a farce, because the mountain caribou is already threatened with extinction because of the current level of logging and roads. Continuing to log 99% of the Timber Harvesting Land Base will obviously kill them. But the caribou are not even getting 1%. Only 76,904 hectares, or .67% of the THLB were allocated by government."

The province's most fragile caribou herds will not receive a significant amount of new protection. The plan concentrates the majority of protection in two planning units:  the Cariboo and the Central Selkirks. This was an opportunity to make significant improvement in these critical areas. "So far we have been severely disappointed in the Central Selkirk planning area," says Pettitt.

 

• "The plan for the Cariboo herd is a significant step forward, but the plan for the Central Selkirks is a step backward. The allocation of 20,000 hectares of Timber Harvesting Land Base for this herd is very deceiving.  According to the Ministry of Environment review, 12,000 hectares of that is forest that's too young to support mountain caribou. It has been heavily clearcut or burned. Some of these areas are so heavily logged they haven't seen a caribou for years and years. Meanwhile, forest where the caribou are spending much of their time will be open for logging."

Unfortunately, the method of protection is by Government Actions Regulation Orders under the Forest and Range Practices Act.  This legislation ties the hands of forest managers from making any order that would "unduly reduce the supply of timber from BC's forests. It also forbids the protection of previously approved cutblocks and roads. This is devastating news for the survival of mountain caribou. By now there are approved cutblocks in some of the most valuable areas to be protected. The logging and road building will heavily degrade the habitat being protected. These are the only intact areas the caribou have left.

In addition, the draft Government Actions Regulation Order exempts logging and road building for mining, coal development and oil and gas development. The truth is this is no protection at all.  The government's plan is a sham everywhere except in the Cariboo. And even in the Cariboo planning unit, caribou will remain at risk from substantial amounts of logging in prime habitat.

Contact persons:

Craig Pettitt 358-7997
Anne Sherrod 358-2610