28 environmental groups, tourism businesses and conservationists have sent a letter to the BC Forests Minister, Hon. Katrine Conroy, stating urgent concerns about hunting and trapping of wolves in BC. Minister Conroy, in statements to media, has recognized the need for changes to the regulations, but suggested that they would be done in consultation with the BC Wildlife Federation (a hunter’s group) and the BC Trapping Association…
Public review and comment processes for the following forest practices laws are coming to a close. There is just enough time for you to write some comments: For Crown land logging: the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) — deadine July 15 A government discussion paper and online form are available at: http://engage.gov.bc.ca/forestandrangepractices. But it […]
Last year the federal Minister of Environment (EC) announced that Mountain Caribou are facing “imminent threat to recovery” because of habitat loss, and said that IMMEDIATE new habitat protection is urgently required. Unfortunately, negotiations between BC, the EC and some First Nations have already taken one whole year. The result is two government-to-government draft agreements: […]
West Kootenays, Trout Lake —The Central Selkirk caribou herd lost another six animals last year; at 25 animals, it is in high danger of being wiped out. Yet BC Timber Sales (BCTS) is logging some of the herd’s last remaining old-growth forest along Trout Lake in the Lardeau River Valley. “I have been seeing caribou […]
A recent report has revealed that British Columbia’s greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions is not accounted for in Canada’s emissions reports. Old growth forests contribute tremendously to global climate regulation and carbon sequestration.
IN 2018 GRIZZLY BEARS IN BC WILL AWAKEN to a SPRINGTIME SAFE FROM HUNTERS (See also: Reflections and Gratitude on the End of the Grizzly Bear Hunt, by VWS Chair, bear biologist Wayne McCrory) The end of 2017 brought the end to all grizzly bear hunting in BC, except for First Nations’ sustenance and ceremonial […]
A recent photo and video expedition has revealed thousands of Western Toads are dispersing into their forested habitat that is slated to be imminently logged. The images and video show toads under logging equipment, on logging roads as well as on branch roads into the logging cut blocks. Branch roads were constructed in February 2016. […]
Final announcement February 1, 2016. On February 1, 2016, the province and coastal First Nations announced the “final” protection agreement for the Great Bear Rainforest (GBR) on the BC coast. Since 1/3 of the GBR was protected in 2006, ten years of negotiations between the larger environmental groups, forest companies and coastal First Nations finally […]
BC GOVERNMENT CARIBOU MANAGERS REPORT DECLINING HERDS DISPLACED BY SNOWMOBILERS Top government managers of B.C.’s Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan (MCRIP) have reported that the plan is failing to keep snowmobiles out of caribou’s winter habitat, even as caribou herds race towards extinction. In their 2015 briefing report to the MCRIP Progress Board (1), the government managers said that caribou are being […]
MOUNTAIN CARIBOU PLAN FAILED TO PROTECT ADEQUATE INLAND TEMPERATE RAINFOREST While the Province doles out tax dollars to kill wolves and pen caribou, logging continues to destroy the caribou’s habitat, putting many other species at risk. Ten environmental groups have sent a letter to BC Premier Christy Clark, urging the creation of new parks in the Interior Wetbelt. […]
September 1, 2015 The Valhalla Wilderness Society (VWS) is calling for an independent review of two maternity penning projects for BC’s endangered mountain caribou, after seven caribou died in the pens this summer. One adult cow and four newborn calves died in a pen near Revelstoke; and in a similar project near Chetwynd, one calf […]
NEW RESEARCH SHOWS HABITAT LOSS DRIVING SOUTH PEACE CARIBOU TOWARDS EXTINCTION Eight environmental groups, Valhalla Wilderness Society, Pacific Wild, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Wilderness Committee, Wildlife Defence League, The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals, Wolf Awareness Inc., and Bears Matter, applaud a recently published scientific report that reveals how much habitat the caribou in […]