Rationale:
· The completion of the Northwest Transmission Line and the Red Chris Mine extension power line right-of-ways (RoW) have resulted in the removal of timber and other vegetation that formerly provided wildlife with security screening along this section of highway, as well as providing a default backstop to any discharge projectiles from firearms, thereby affording some public safety.
· There has been little to no road deactivation undertaken associated with construction roads used for the power line construction, so vehicle access to hunting areas in close proximity to the highway are now very plentiful and public safety risk is correspondingly increased as a result.
· There are concerns that the newly cleared area (that will now be permanently managed as young seral stage area) will:
-Regenerate into vegetation types that will attract wildlife (such as moose and bear) to the highway corridor and RoW;
-Pose a risk to public safety, to those other vehicles travelling along this highway as significant portions of it now no longer have roadside vegetation that will function as a backstop to bullets;
-Result in increased wildlife harvest in an area currently managed as general open seasons;
-Result in changes to licensed hunter opportunity if localized harvest becomes unsustainable, and possible impacts to First Nation ability to exercise their aboriginal right to hunt for food.