Attention BC Residents!

IronNoggin

IronNoggin

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Port Alberni, Vancouver Island
Tell The BC Government to Responsibly Fund Fish, Wildlife & Habitat!

Your opportunity to Send The Message!

Background:

British Columbia (BC) is home to more than half of all fish and wildlife species in Canada. We are losing the unique and abundant biodiversity that makes our province special - and the resources available to stem these declines have been shunted to other areas of government spending.

Declining Fish, Wildlife and Habitat

The human population of BC nearly doubled between 1975 and 2015, from 2.5 to 4.7 million people, putting tremendous pressure on fish and wildlife habitat
The endangered mountain caribou are in decline across most of BC; multiple populations now number less than 50
Moose, elk, and mule deer are declining across many parts of BC. For example, from 1989 to 2014 resident hunter moose harvest declined from 13,000 to 5,000.
Over 85% of wetlands in the Lower Mainland and the South Okanagan have been lost, removing critical habitat for amphibians, reptiles, fish, and birds - and altering the role these habitats play in cleaning our drinking water
Kootenay and Arrow Lake kokanee and rainbow trout are at record lows
Thompson and Chilko River steelhead have declined from over 6,000 fish in 1985 to 600 today; they are now at a record low, and classified as extreme conservation concern
In spite of these declines, there are no mandated population objectives or goals for fish and wildlife populations

Funding for Fish and Wildlife Management

BC has one of the most under-funded and under-staffed fish and wildlife management agencies in North America
BC is one of the only jurisdictions in North America without a dedicated funding model for wildlife management
From 1984-2010 the number of full-time equivalents (employees) in the Ministry of Environment went from 2,116 to 1,533
From 1998-2011 the provincial government's budget doubled while funding for renewable resource ministries was cut by 56%
Only 18% ($2.6 million) of the $14.5 million collected through hunting licence fees are dedicated to BC's fund for fish and wildlife conservation - the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation
Non-renewable natural resource extraction will have a long-term negative effect on biodiversity and there is no mechanism in place to compensate for these losses
Activities such as ecotourism, wildlife viewing, mining, heli-skiing, oil and gas, and logging should all contribute to natural resource and biodiversity conservation

http://bcwf.net/index.php/2017-political-election-questions/sign-the-petition

Mods - I was uncertain as to where to post this important message. Please feel free to move as required. Thanks!

Cheers,
Nog
 
signed.

But im not sure population has much to do with it as much as poor management practices in industry(logging mining oil/gas ex.) and construction in general
 
c.t.smith said:
signed.

But im not sure population has much to do with it as much as poor management practices in industry(logging mining oil/gas ex.) and construction in general
Click to expand...

Those are issues too for sure but the point of the petition is to increase funding by preventing the provincial government from chucking license fees into general revenues.
 
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A lot of very wrong impressions left with people reading this thread.
Politics in BC means either Liberal or NDP. In the last forty years they have each had about the same amount of time in power. The NDP will say anything to get into power. The money that gets them into power comes from the uniuon's and the tree huggers/animal lovers, so the NDP think they can now throw hunters under the bus, which they do. For starters the thin edge of the wedge is their avowed claim to end grizzly bear hunting. But they have stated publically that it will not just be a simple end grizzly hunting, but will be worded to end trophy hunting. This way they will get agreement from all the luke warm hunters, as evidenced here on CGN, who think hunting is OK, but no, they don't agree with trophy hunting.
The NDP are absolute masters at the old tactic of divide and conquer. Say anything and do anything to get into power and to stay in power.
Getting back to the start of this thing, the BC Liberals have done a pretty good job of managing our game and hunting laws, especially under the very able leadership of Premier Christi Clark. Ask the BC Wildlife Federation who they would rather see in power, the Liberals or the NDP!
 
H4831 said:
A lot of very wrong impressions left with people reading this thread...
Click to expand...

Only when someone derails the message such as you are attempting to do here IMHO.

Getting back to the start of this thing, the BC Liberals have done a pretty good job of managing our game and hunting laws, especially under the very able leadership of Premier Christi Clark.
Click to expand...

No, actually they have NOT. Under the current "leadership" our game populations have plummeted, the "dirt" ministries have been slashed, staffing levels have been too, resident hunters were tossed under the bus in favor of larger allocations (up to 40%!) to the guides and outfitters (as an obvious Thank You for significant "donations" to the liberals) and on it goes. In fact, our wildlife populations have suffered under your parties version of "management". Really.

That matter is besides the point. The BCWF has to and does remain non-partisan. This topic, and this Petition is NOT about the impending election whatsoever, and I would appreciate it if you could manage to try and refrain from suggesting it is.

This IS ALL ABOUT demanding our Wild Life, and our Wild Lands get treated with the Respect they deserve, and funded properly so as to manage them in a sustainable and increasing fashion. This, REGARDLESS of the government of the day. This REGARDLESS of just who wins the provincial election this spring. And This REGRADLESS of who wins the next ten, or even one hundred elections. It is time to set this out in Legislation, for now and for the future, such that whomever assumes the reigns will be forever bound to managing these resources in the manner they truly deserve.

Cheers,
Nog
 
H4831 said:
A lot of very wrong impressions left with people reading this thread.
Politics in BC means either Liberal or NDP. In the last forty years they have each had about the same amount of time in power. The NDP will say anything to get into power. The money that gets them into power comes from the uniuon's and the tree huggers/animal lovers, so the NDP think they can now throw hunters under the bus, which they do. For starters the thin edge of the wedge is their avowed claim to end grizzly bear hunting. But they have stated publically that it will not just be a simple end grizzly hunting, but will be worded to end trophy hunting. This way they will get agreement from all the luke warm hunters, as evidenced here on CGN, who think hunting is OK, but no, they don't agree with trophy hunting.
The NDP are absolute masters at the old tactic of divide and conquer. Say anything and do anything to get into power and to stay in power.
Getting back to the start of this thing, the BC Liberals have done a pretty good job of managing our game and hunting laws, especially under the very able leadership of Premier Christi Clark. Ask the BC Wildlife Federation who they would rather see in power, the Liberals or the NDP!
Click to expand...

Refreshing to see a voice of reason amongst admittedly a bit whipped up alarmism. People reading this who didn't know BC would get the entirely wrong impression of what it's like here.

BC is actually held as a model for conservation management in North America, take a look at Alaska. There are more opportunities here for hunting than any other state, region, territory or province on the continent. I fly helicopters and floatplanes here for the day job and see impressive swathes of it few do, and can assure you BC is doing very, very well. Much of the complaints on moose come from areas Prince George and below that have large populations and land alteration through industries that support those towns, and yet the residents outside them bemoan the state of moose populations.

Living well like we do has costs, the population isn't going to shrink, and we're still the best off region on the continent for residents with the number of species available. People need to get way, way away from the logging and resource roads however, as with anywhere, and few do. BC isn't a frontier anymore and frontier game access right in the back forty can't be expected south of the province's beltline.
 
I'd also like to say to the OP, I admire your concern and dedication to wildlife in BC, but in my opinion the rhetoric should be cooled off a good deal. And the fight we all really need to be fighting is making sure the NDP doesn't get elected again. H4831 is right there, he spent his life as a bush pilot in the north, even wrote a book about it. He isn't talking out of his arse is what I'm saying, and I agree with him.
 
No right thinking person (no pun intended) should want the NDP back in power. Whenever the NDP held power in the past, people couldn't wait to vote them out again. Talk about swallowing a poison pill.

Oh, I agree with increased funding for fish & wildlife management.
 
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