Province says herd populations stable and increasing near Fort Nelson, B.C.
Caribou hunting could be making a comeback but one local guide and conservationist says the province might be acting prematurely.
Caribou hunts were suspended in 2022 after a Supreme Court ruling found decades of cumulative impacts from industrial development infringed the treaty rights of local First Nations to hunt, fish, and trap.
The province is now proposing opening up a limited entry hunt in four areas near Fort Nelson, saying recent population surveys show that the numbers among six Northern Mountain caribou herds are stable and growing, with estimates of more than 4,000 animals.
The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship says biological metrics show the herds are self-sustaining, and radio-collar data suggests there is strong connectivity among the herds.
“Taken together, these indicators suggest Northern Mountain caribou populations in these areas are healthy,” the ministry said.
A five-point restriction on bulls “along with the relatively inaccessible terrain in the proposed areas, represents a very cautious proposed approach,” the ministry added.
But Wayne Sawchuk (pictured above), an eco-tourism operator in the northern Rockies, says he was surprised by the proposal.
He’s operated a backcountry guiding business since the early 1990s, spending weeks at a time travelling through caribou habitat on horseback each year.
“We get up close and personal with these animals,” Sawchuck told CBC Radio West host Sarah Penton.
“We get to understand a little bit about the dynamics out there on the land and certainly the population levels are pretty clear if you're out there for a month or two at a time.
“They're nowhere near back to where they were 15 years ago.”
Sawchuk says the 2022 closure followed a “crash” in caribou numbers, including the complete loss of some herds in the south Peace region, around Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge.
Though northern herds are doing better, he questions reopening any hunt.
“The question has to be asked if they want to go back down the same road that potentially caused those other herds to wink out,” he said.
The province says Northern Mountain caribou are still hunted under limits in other parts of northwest and north-central B.C., as well as in Yukon.
It says hunting boreal and Southern Mountain herds remain banned, as both species are listed as threatened or endangered, and the proposed openings "do not overlap" with those populations.
The province is also looking to open more moose hunting opportunities in the Peace region, after scaling back in 2022 to maintain herds and uphold treaty rights.
The province says surveys show stable and increasing moose populations, with more than 48,000 animals estimated in the region.
The B.C. Wildlife Federation says it supports both the proposed caribou hunt and changes to moose hunting regulations.
-CBC
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