I know this comes a little late in the season… but it’s a topic that keeps coming up, and we have some strong opinions about this. The topic is whether to restrict access by snow machines into sensitive ecological areas – and a lot of it has to do with caribou and wolves.
A comment was made on a news story back in March (Revelstoke Times Review) how caribou “appreciate” the tracks put down by machines, so they don’t have to work as hard to walk through deep snow. Well, these snowmobile “highways” also allow predators to follow the caribou into their winter habitat.
Thus, the caribou are losing one major tool they have always used to avoid predators – climbing into inaccessible terrain.
Snowmobiling clubs and outfitters should be commended on their efforts to raise awareness of sensitive areas. We, as citizens, should encourage them to continue educating their members and clients to avoid these areas during certain times of the year. It seems that for the most part, snowmobiling organizations and conservation organizations are able to meet in the middle when it comes to the endangered mountain caribou (www.mountaincaribou.org).
It’s only a handful of whiners, as usual, who make a lot of noise and make the others look bad… The squeaky wheel gets the grease, I guess.
The Environmental extremists supposedly skew data and studies to suit their agenda… is an argument used by people who don’t want their movement in the backcountry restricted in any way. So does that mean that the extremists on the other side do not skew any data ever, then? “Maybe” the caribou are avoiding areas with snowmobiles. So let’s just continue to “maybe” harass them and we will see whether it’s true or not…
Handfuls of snowmobilers, and others enjoying the great outdoors, have had close encounters with caribou out there. It is a rare and special event to come that close to such a shy animal, and those of you who have turned off your engines, enjoyed the moment, and left quietly should be proud. Surely not everyone is so respectful. We all know the yahoos in our neighbourhood.
The big issue is not whether we chase them around (although that is a concern, and so is the noise)… the big issue is the easy access we give predators when we pack down the snow. The caribou no longer have anywhere to hide.
How is it possible, that in a province with this much open wilderness, that we cannot all agree to explore other beautiful and remote areas, and stay away from identified sensitive areas?
When tourists pour $8 million per year into the local economy to explore our backcountry, you can bet they don’t have their heart set on disturbing wildlife in sensitive areas. We are surrounded by majestic wilderness and it’s not all sensitive. They would still give us $8 million to go somewhere nice. Don’t try to tell me that we’re limited in towns like Golden and Revelstoke. We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Why should we be allowed to recreate in every corner of the wilderness all the time? Why wouldn’t we do everything in our power to help endangered species?
Here are some links you all might find interesting:
Snowmobiling and national park boundaries
http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/revelstoketimesreview/lifestyles/40193438.html
NCES says B.C. mountain caribou recovery plan implementation falls short
http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/revelstoketimesreview/news/40192703.html
Calls for snowmobile closures sparks debate
http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/revelstoketimesreview/news/40577768.html
Black male wolf killed on TCH, Banff National Park
http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/thegoldenstar/news/40133343.html
More on wolves in Kootenay National Park
http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/invermerevalleyecho/news/37464409.html
Filed under: Conservation, Wolf Conservation, Wolves of the Rockies | Tags: Canadian Wolf Coalition, wolf buffer zones, wolf conservation
Only 2 weeks left to help protect wolves in the Canadian Central Rocky Mountains! Our petition to form Buffer Zones around our National Parks is winding down, and we still need your help.
ADD YOUR VOICE. Spread the word. Visit www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Wolf-Buffer-zones
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK! Fill out the survey. Visit www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1028200
Why?
- Canadian wolf hunting and trapping regulations are TOO LAX!
- Canadian hunting regulations show that our government only values the life of a wolf at $2.65 in royalties in B.C. when they are trapped, and as low as ONE DOLLAR in other provinces.
- Open hunting season ranges from 8 – 12 months, and YEAR-ROUND in some provinces below 1100m.
- Many provinces have no bag limits, and no specific tag or permit requirements to hunt wolves, unlike other fur-bearing or large game animals.
- Our National Parks are NOT large enough to sustain healthy wolf packs and ensure their future.
- As top predators, wolves maintain balance and ecological integrity. Wolves are like an umbrella: by protecting them, we can protect many species under them.
- The Central Rocky Mountain Corridor connects wildlife across North America, and we must maintain intact habitat in these areas.
- The rest of the world has LOST wolves due to loss of habitat and human exploitation. Let’s set an example!
If you have already signed the petition, the Canadian Wolf Coalition and wolves across Canada thank you. Aaaaaaooooooooooo! For more information about Buffer Zones for Wolves or the Canadian Wolf Coalition, visit www.northernlightswildlife.com or www.canadianwolfcoalition.com
SURVEY RESULTS SO FAR:
90% of all survey respondents have visited on of our National Parks.
75% of the respondents are from Canada.
88% were strongly in favour of banning the hunting, trapping, or chasing of wolves for an additional 200 km around the National Parks in the Canadian Central Rockies, while 5% disagreed.
88% were strongly in favour of restricting the use of motorized recreational vehicles for an area of 200 km around the National Parks in the Canadian Central Rockies, while 7% disagreed.
84% were strongly in favour of creating a land management use plan/policy for 200 km around each National Park in the Canadian Central Rockies to restrict the development of commercial or industrial practices (including resource extraction), while 7% disagreed.
There were very mixed feelings about imposing limits on the number of people allowed to enter the National Parks in the Canadian Central Rockies throughout the year, with just over 50% in favour.
HOWLS AND BARKS FROM SOME OF YOU:
“Wolves need extra protection in these areas, and only Buffer Zones will accomplish this, unless the ENTIRE PARK is made larger.”
“We need to protect our wildlife. I think a buffer zone is a good step in the right direction.”
“200km?!?!?? If you’re that out to lunch why don’t you suggest a complete tunnel of all highways within the Parks to address roadkill of wolves. Come back to Earth, come up with something more balanced.”
“With the population exanding and the available natural untouched wilderness areas decreasing we are going to lose many species. Farmland is being subdivided and wilderness areas are being turned into communities for humans…look at Canmore and Cochrane…it absolutely sick. We have to stop this, nature, land, wildlife and humans are all connected.”
“I am undecided on imposing limits to the numers permitted into our Parks. On one hand, I agree that population and overuse is intruding and interfering with the natural habitat that is essential to many species. On the other, I believe that visitors to the parks are more likely to become great advocates to for our esocsystems wildlife… …Thanks for everything you are doing!!!”
“Wolves are endangered or lost in almost every other country on earth when they used to be the most widely distributed animal in the world. We should learn from other’s mistakes and protect them while we have the chance.”
“Having lived extensively in the United States AND Canada, and as a proud Canadian, I would be appalled to see our beautiful national parks go the way of the Americans where there is far too much permitted in terms of hunting, fishing, recreational vehicles, and overuse. We must ensure that our parks are kept pristine for our children and future generations. In order to do so, we must protect all species of wildlife within those boundaries. We MUST NOT bow to the pressure of big business who sees only dollar signs.”
THANKS to EVERYONE who has signed the petition and filled out the survey!
Howl With Me
Filed under: Conservation, Wolf Conservation, Wolves of the Rockies | Tags: canadian wolves, endangered species
A letter to the editor of the Golden Star a few weeks ago suggested that wolves need no protection. Well – it’s true they are not considered “endangered” in Canada. It took a while for the rebuttal to form in our collective brain… but here is what we think.
People either love wolves or hate them. They ignite our passion. They spark our imagination. Wolves are an icon of the wilderness – and maybe we can use that status to help endangered species in this country.
You can certainly argue that they don’t need protection… especially in Canada, where we have a “healthy” population, and one of the largest intact wolf populations in the world.
But we argue that they do need protection! We believe that if we keep wolf numbers healthy, they can help us keep everything healthy, including ourselves. Healthy ecosystems are essential to healthy human societies and economies. This is a guiding principal from the Protect Biodiversity website (www.protectbiodiversity.ca), and it should be everyone’s guiding principle for the way to live your life.
Here is the basis for our argument: Imagine the wolf as an umbrella. They are a large predator who sits at the very top of our food chain. When something happens at the top, there is a cascade effect that influences every level of the food chain, right down to the insects and plants… basically, everything under the umbrella.
Consider these things: Wolves live in packs. They hunt all year long in order to feed their big families. They often take the weak and sick, and leave behind the strong and healthy. They feed others, because there are often lots of leftovers from their feasts. They control the numbers of their prey, so huge population explosions don’t happen, and that means there is enough food energy to go around (that’s the “carrying capacity” of the land).
Badgers are “endangered” in British Columbia. Who cares about the badger? They’re a pest, right?
Blue herons are considered “vulnerable”. But they’re majestic, beautiful, and don’t dig holes in farmers’ fields. So… some people may take notice…
But many more people take notice when you say “wolf”. Both sides of the argument come to life. That’s the beauty of it!
We want to ignite your passion! So whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, we do need to talk about them. Our argument is that by protecting wolves, we can protect the others… we can, in fact, protect the whole ecosystem. Healthy humans on a healthy planet!
Filed under: Wolf Conservation | Tags: Canadian Wolf Coalition, wolf buffer zones, wolf conservation
During his pre-election campaign, Jim Abbott paid the Wolf Centre a visit. We had been writing politicians like Mr. Abbott for years to listen about wildlife conservation. Conservation of wildlife and the health of the environment is not a priority for our government. But look at the popular vote that political movement like the Green Party are garnering these days. As more young people actually get off their butts and vote, and some ignorant old folk die off, we will see change. When it comes down to it, economy, child care, and health care matter only if we have a healthy planet to live on. But we digress.
Well, wolves are not a “species at risk” according to Canada. Why protect wolves – and not some of the other species who actually have threatened or endangered status? We can blabber on about “keystone”, and “apex predator”, and the fact that wolves have a bad rap… but what it boils down to is that wolves really are like an “umbrella”. By protecting wolves, we are protecting untold numbers of species below them on the food chain. Try googling “willows and wolves”, and you’ll see a great example in Yellowstone National Park.
It’s admitted that several of our National Parks, specifically Yoho and Kootenay, are simply not large enough to protect wolves. On the Kootenay Park website, they say that “Areas with healthy wolf populations generally have intact wilderness. Conserving wolves means conserving wilderness.”
Now, we understand that Mr. Abbott has a wide variety of people in his constituency, and it is simply not possible to please everyone. To be clear about the proposed buffer zones: we are aware that there are ranches, farms, and towns within the 200km zone we are requesting, as well as trapping lines that have been in use for over a century. It has certainly got to be a win-win situation for everyone involved. But since hunting/shooting and traffic are leading causes of mortality for wolves in the Central Rockies, including the Parks, it certainly makes sense to control how and when people are allowed to kill wolves… just as it is important that the transportation routes through the Parks are getting more underpasses and overpasses built!
Now that he has been elected as our Member of Parliament once again, we are counting on his support. In the coming weeks, we’ll post some background on the history of buffer zones in the Central Rockies, and also on what the people of Ontario did to make their campaign a success.
Filed under: Wolf Conservation | Tags: canadian wolves, wolf coalition, wolf conservation, Wolves
Hello World! Welcome to the Northern Lights Wolf Centre weblog… or as we prefer to think of it: Casey’s Rant. Casey Black was the one who started this wolf centre about a decade ago, and he has a lot of “opinions”. It’s our job to distill his rants into compact little blogs that are fun to read, and minus the, ahem, expletives.
For those of you just stumbling upon this blog, we operate a small interpretive centre about wolves in Golden, British Columbia (www.northernlightswildlife.com). Our two main goals are to change people’s attitudes about wolves through education, and to change legislation through letter campaigns and petitions in order to protect a very important predator…
We thought we’d fill everyone in on a project of ours that has been years in the making, but is finally coming into full and exciting life: it’s the formation of a Canadian Wolf Coalition to put pressure on government to make legislative changes to protect our wolves. One of the first changes we wish to push through is the formation of buffer zones around the National Parks here in the Rockies. A buffer zone would be an area with restrictions on the hunting and trapping of wolves, ideally coupled with additional restrictions on motorized backcountry access in these areas.
Wolves are an endangered species worldwide, but not in Canada. The situation here is that wolves are still considered vermin, and have very little protection in many areas of our country. As a result, hunting is one of the leading causes of wolf mortality in Canada. Trapping, transportation routes, and habitat loss or fragmentation are also major reasons for the decline in wolf numbers.
The Big Bad Wolf has long been feared and hated, but there is no evidence that wolves actually hunt humans, and they are less likely to hunt livestock than most of us think. They are actually a vital part of a healthy ecosystem.
Why protect wolves? Well, wolves are at the top of the food chain, and when something happens to the balance at the top, it has a “domino effect” on the plants and animals below. We are seeing the beginning of this domino effect happening right now in the central Rocky Mountains.
It is known that even parks as large as Jasper or Banff are just not big enough to contain wolves, whose territories can be as large as 3000 square kilometres!
Seven National Parks in the central Rockies (Banff, Yoho, Jasper, Kootenay, Mount Revelstoke, Glacier, Waterton) are currently reviewing their Park Management Strategies, and accepting input from outside organizations. This provides an excellent opportunity to enlarge protected areas for wolves, whose territories extend beyond the boundaries of these parks.
Canada still has one of the healthiest wolf populations in the world. On a global basis, this provides us with a unique and vital conservation opportunity!
Do you want to help? For more information on the Canadian Wolf Coalition, visit www.canadianwolfcoalition.com, or www.northernlightswildlife.com/bufferzones.html
September 2008 – Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre
