Mayor “Frustrated” With Backcountry Ban Plan

Apr 16, 2019 | 3:28 PM

Enderby’s mayor has joined the growing list of opponents to plans for a backcountry closure as way to protect caribou populations.

Greg McCune says the BC and federal governments have failed to provide legitimate data to back-up their claims, or adequate consultation with communities.

McCune joined other civic leaders at a meeting in Sicamous this week to discuss the government plans which could put a halt to logging, and recreational activities like snowmobiling.

“That’s probably the most frustrating part is you’ve got special interest groups that just seem to think — whether they’re living in a high rise in Vancouver or San Francisco or wherever — it’s like, ‘We have to do this, let’s do it now, and here’s how we’re going to do it, we don’t really care what the impact is,'”says McCune.

McCune tells Beach Radio News, the government should be allowing communities to provide impact studies to show what the effect will be on jobs and economic drivers.

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“So that Enderby or Sicamous or Revelstoke could say, the direct effect of what you’re going to be doing is 2,000 lost jobs and $50 million in economic drivers to the community, instead of just ‘Oh no, let’s just make this work.”

A 30-thousand name petition from the Peace region against the closures has been forwarded to Victoria.

McCune says at the meeting he was at, a person with a long association with caribou said much of what the government is planning, won’t work.

“Unless you are going to deal with the wolves and those types of things and then factually look at it, the caribou are tending to survive a bit better when they are in a snowmobile area because it’s keeping the wolves away.”

Local M-P Mel Arnold will hold a meeting on the issue at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Splatsin Centre in Enderby.

The B.C. government has extended the public consultation period from April 30 to May 31, in order to give former Liberal MLA and minister Blair Lekstrom time to work with community leaders.

In his role as community liaison, Lekstrom will consult with community leaders and local stakeholders on the draft agreements, provide input into the economic impact analysis and advise how the province can meet its obligation to protect southern mountain caribou, while also protecting local jobs and communities.

“People here care about the land, the caribou and each other. We can find solutions, but that requires adequate consultation,” said Lekstrom. “The actions taken by the provincial government today give me hope that we can make sure everyone’s voices are heard and find solutions going forward.”

The southern mountain caribou were listed as a threatened wildlife species federally in 2003, and Ottawa announced the species was facing “imminent threats to their recovery last year.

by Corey Fischer