BEPPLE – ‘Managing to Zero’ will drive Mountain Caribou herds to extinction

I FIRST HEARD the term “Managing to Zero” in 2017 at a presentation by the British Columbia Wildlife Federation (BCTF). The premise of the talk and the term, is that, in face of declining wildlife, dividing an ever smaller pie drives species to extinction. At some point, we cannot continue to divide an ever diminishing pie.

For example, in 2017, the Steelhead fisheries saw only 145 fish in the spawning population on the Thompson and 45 in the Chilcotin.  That is less than 10 per cent of the pre-2000 average according to Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Both populations have been in decline for over 40 years.

Yet year after year, there are fishers who ask for an opening to fish.  And, despite the Steelhead being in danger of extinction, there is still a possibility of a catch and release fishery listed on the DFO website depending on sampled numbers of return rates.

And year after year, there are politicians who support openings as well.  I know firsthand.  Five years ago, as a member of the TNRD board, I listened to other board members pleading for support for openings of the Steelhead fishery because of the impacts it had on the local economy between Cache Creek and Lytton.

Again, last year, in August 2018, Steve Rice, the TNRD director for Spences Bridge, lamented the closure of the Steelhead fishery last fall, when less than 100 fish returned to the Thompson.

A few weeks back, “Managing to Zero” came up again when residents in northern B.C. came out to provincial government meetings to protest possible closures of backcountry areas to help preserve the threatened Northern Mountain Caribou.

Under the proposed plan, over one million hectares of habitat will be closed to snowmobilers in northern B.C. to help preserve the caribou.

The plight of the Northern Caribou is on the same downward trend as their Steelhead brethren.  The caribou population in Tweedsmuir is 165, in Takla 70, and in Telkwa 16.  The largest herd, in the Chilcotin, is 1,350. Six of the nine regions in northern B.C. have seen decreasing numbers of caribou, with one other being decreasing or steady, and one unknown.  Only one region, Wolverine with 375 caribou, has seen an increase.

Meanwhile, five caribou herds in central and southern B.C. are already extinct.  Herds in Purcells Central in Southeast Kootenay, George Mountain in Upper Fraser, Banff in Jasper-Banff, Monashee in South Monashee, and Burnt Pine in Pine River are all extinct.

So we have already watched caribou populations get smaller and smaller, to the point of extinction in other parts of the province.  We’ve managed to zero.

Now, the province is trying to take the bold step of not dividing the pie.  Instead of saying that snowmobiling and caribou herds can co-exist, the province has proposed a closure to snowmobilers of one million hectares of caribou habitat.

And people in northern B.C. are in an uproar in the proposed closures.

Managing to zero says that no matter what size of population of caribou, some snowmobiling should be allowed.  Managing to zero’s philosophy is that no matter the size of a wildlife population, it can absorb some pressure.  These pressures could be hunting, fishing, or snowmobiling.  It could be forestry, road building, pipelines, or water extraction.

Managing to zero has been the default management strategy for fisheries and wildlife for decades.  And, again and again, it ends up the same.

We keep taking our piece out of the ever smaller pie, until, in the end, there is no pie left.

Here’s hoping the province sticks to its plan of protecting the threatened caribou by imposing closures to snowmobiling.  Here’s hoping the Tweedsmuir, Takla, and Telkwa herds don’t join the extinct list along with the ones already there in Purcells Central, George Mountain, Banff, Monashee, and Burnt Pine.

Nancy Bepple is a former City councillor of Kamloops with a strong interest in community building projects.