PUBLIC MEETING

Moose Strategic Harvest Strategy for Region 5
Hosted by Ministry of Environment

This will be an information session only outlining the different potential moose seasons which are capable of meeting the biological objectives around moose population management.

Thursday - November 17^th
7:00 pm
Best Western Tower
500 Reid Street
Quesnel, BC

For more information on what the Ministry is offering, see attached file.
Alternative Moose Harvest Startagies

*** Just Released from Roger Stewart - FAQ ***

What we have asked for in past meetings. Nov. 3/2009 This also shows the support of the 100 Mile House club, we’re after the same thing.

Here is the form letter our members have been sending to Bob Simpson outlining our support for the implementation of Ominica Plan here in Region 5, the same letter the 100 Mile House folks have been sending Donna Barnett.

Here is a reply from Roger Stewart MOE Region 5 Director of Resource Management. Letter

Here are the Meeting Minutes from the last Alternative Moose Harvest Strategy meeting.

Here is the poster advertising the upcoming Public Meeting , please feel free to print and distribute. Please make an effort to attend the meeting and spread the word to any one that is interested in a change to our current Moose game management plan. Numbers count big time when we’re dealing the MOE as they balance the interest of not just resident hunters, but also First Nations or any group that shows up and shows a concern/interest. The only way the MOE can really gauge resident hunter interest is by how many people show up.

Gun control groups slam Canada’s stance at UN arms talks
By Jeff Davis, Postmedia News July 14, 2011

Canada has thrown a wrench into negotiations toward a United Nations arms trade treaty by proposing hunting rifles be exempted from the draft accord, gun control groups say.  But firearms advocates are praising the move, calling it evidence that the Harper government is on their side when it comes to gun control.  Preliminary talks on a future Arms Trade Treaty are being held this week at the United Nations in New York. The treaty would establish common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms, and likely establish a reporting framework as well.

Thursday Canadian diplomats proposed that hunting rifles and other sporting arms be omitted from the draft accord.  “Canada would like  to see language in the ‘Principles’ section that explicitly recognizes that there is a legal trade in small arms for legitimate civilian uses, including for sporting, hunting and collecting purposes,” read the speech.

Canada proposed the following clause be added into the draft accord:
“Reaffirming that small arms have certain legitimate civilian uses, including sporting, hunting and collecting purposes.” Canada also
proposed that ammunition and other “high volume items” be exempted from reporting requirements.

Kenneth Epps, of Canadian arms control NGO Project Ploughshares, said Canada’s move is hampering efforts to forge a comprehensive global arms control regime.  “The problem is that once you introduce exemptions, others will do the same,” he said. “It’s the thin edge of the edge.” Epps called Canada’s proposal a major departure from previous positions. He said there is very little difference between a sniper rifle and a hunting rifle, and that both are dangerous in the wrong hands.  “If the weapons are being used to kill civilians, or for criminal activity, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a sports rifle or a military rifle,” he said. “From a humanitarian perspective, all firearms need to be controlled, and that’s the bottom line.”

Epps said a representative of the Canadian Sports Shooting Association “a major gun owners’ group” attended the meeting alongside Canadian officials Thursday.  “The statement is reflective, in my view, of government pandering to domestic gun owners,”
he said.  Representatives of the Canadian Sports Shooting Association were not immediately available for comment. 

Solomon Friedman, an Ottawa-based lawyer specializing in firearms law, said his fellow firearms owners should be pleased with the government’s push to protect their rights on the world stage.  “Gun owners will certainly be happy they are not being penalized for the actions of gun traffickers and rogue states, and that they’re not being lumped in,” he said.  Friedman said gun owners are pleased with the Harper government’s position on guns, particularly its plan to repeal the long-gun registry.

“What we’re seeing here is a shift in attitude by Canada’s government to recognize the legitimate use of firearms by millions of Canadians,” he said. “The government of Canada no longer seems to be treating law abiding firearms owners as presumptive criminals.”

jdavis(at)postmedia.com
Twitter.com/JeffDavisOttawa
Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Another allocation issue. I just received this letter from the Ministry. They are looking for input so I am asking you, the membership, what your thoughts are on this. Feel free to discuss this here on the site or call me directly (250-992-9040), or send your thoughts directly to the Ministry. What has been suggested is that we lobby for them to be on LEH but with no animals allocated to the harvest. That way, when the numbers are up, it will be fairly easy to allow an LEH hunt. If we let them keep the moratorium on the Sheep, we will never get it removed no matter what the population grows to, the fear being we will lose that hunt forever.

May 17, 2011
Dear Wildlife Advisory Committee Member
Re: Moratorium on the Harvest of Bighorn Sheep in MU 5-03

 Due to a continued decline and lack of recovery of the Churn Creek/Fraser River California bighorn sheep population in MU 5-03, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource operations is proposing a 5 year moratorium on the harvest of bighorn sheep for conservation purposes. In terms of wildlife management, conservation of wildlife populations is the highest priority of government.   The proposed moratorium would be scheduled to come into effect for the 2011 hunting season.  As outlined in the attached chart, annual sheep inventories show evidence of the decline of the population which commenced in 1995 and is showing no evidence of recovery. Predation and disease are believed to be the main contributing factors to this decline.

 Although there have been very few rams harvested from this herd in the past few years, we believe all hunting must be curtailed until adequate recovery of the population occurs.  Based on the current status of the population, additional mortality of sheep through hunting could contribute to a longer recovery period of this population.  Unfortunately we have no estimate on the required amount of time for recovery to occur, to the point that hunting might re-commence.  During the moratorium period, every attempt will be made to assess the status of the population through annual inventory.

 As part of the consultation process for any major regulation amendment I’m contacting all members of the Wildlife Advisory Committee, including impacted guide outfitters and requesting input on the short and long term implications of this proposal.  I’m required to submit this proposal to headquarters at least 2 months prior to the commencement of the open season for bighorn sheep in September 2011.  I appreciate you require sufficient time to discuss this regulation amendment with members of your association and request comments be submitted via email (myself or Randy Wright) or through Canada Post by no later than June 30, 2011.

  I will also be having discussions with First Nation to initiate a cooperative working approach to aid in the recovery of this population.  First Nations communities who hunt sheep habitat in MU 5-03 have indicated support for the moratorium, which would allow community leaders to prohibit First Nations hunters from targeting sheep.

 I look forward to receiving your comments on the proposed moratorium.

Yours truly,
Mike Ramsay
NRO Section Head
Cariboo Region

 Results of sheep population surveys in MU 5-03, 1991 to 2010.

Last year the BCWF Region 5 Executive had asked that we talk with our Region 5 clubs about their feelings on a selective moose harvest strategy like what they have in Region 7. The vast majority of our club members were in agreement with it. We presented it to the MOE in Williams Lake on Dec. 8th 2009, almost a full year ago. I’m bringing it up again for several reasons. It has been a while and many may have forgotten about it, we have many new members that would not be familiar with this topic, and we’re pressuring the MOE to move on it. This was presented to the Williams Lake Sportsman Association as well, they unfortunately do not have a majority of their members in favour of this strategy, so if you know some members there, perhaps you can talk with them to get a better idea of why they don’t want to see this in our Region and what their concerns are. We need a more unified voice amongst our clubs to really apply pressure on the MOE. As long as they can point to a club not in agreement, they have wiggle room, even if it’s only one of many clubs with the clear majority being in favour.

November 3, 2009  
Change in Moose Season for Region 5: 

In 1999 Region 5 moved from a General Open Season (GOS) on Moose to Limited Entry Hunting (LEH).  Hunter success went from 10 days up to 25 days to harvest a moose under the LEH system, meaning that it has become harder to get a moose under the LEH regime.  Another problem is that there are roughly 3,000 draws and it has become harder each year to pickup a moose draw in Region 5.  Some people have been applying since the LEH system came into effect in 1999 and have never been drawn.

 For 2009 under LEH Regulations Synopsis for Region 5 there were 3,030 authorizations for a planned harvest of 1,110 moose by Resident Hunters.  During this fall’s moose hunting there were 93 separate hunting seasons. 

According to MOE for the period of 2004 to 2008, the Resident Hunter Annual Allowable Harvest (AAH) for moose was 1,236 animals.   According to the Ministry of Environment the average actual harvest  for the period of 2004 to 2007 for residents was 1,003 moose.  This means that we are not harvesting the 1,236 animals that we should have been harvesting. 

Starting in 2009 and going until 2012 under the LEH system the Annual Allowable Harvest will be 1,334 moose.  Of this the Guide Outfitters share will be 21% equalling 280 per annum. Using admin guidelines (50% of a 3 year guideline) the uppermost quota issuance is 430, which is what was issued in aggregate this year.  Total resident target harvest per annum will be 1,054 or 79% of Annual Allowable Harvest. 

As members of the BC Wildlife Federation we have been negotiating with government for more liberalized moose hunting seasons in order to provide more opportunity for resident hunters.  This isn’t just about killing more moose but about managing the moose population more effectively while providing more resident opportunity.  Under the present LEH system the annual die-off of calves is 75%.  In the Omineca Region 7 where they have more liberalized seasons, the mortality rate for calves is 50%. 

We have looked and studied the Omineca model where they have both General Open Season and LEH season.  The GOS in Region 7 look like this for 2009. 

 On top of these GOS, under LEH Regulations Synopsis for Region 7 Omineca for the 2009 hunting season there were 4,649 authorizations for a planned harvest of 1,550 moose by resident hunters.  These LEH cover 96 separate seasons.  They have more LEH draws than Region 5 and have five open season on Moose, which provides more resident opportunities and their moose populations is not being killed off. 

In 2004 we had a partial spike-fork season and the hunter days went from 15,500 up to 35,000 hunter days or 225% and the moose harvest only increased by 10% or 119 animals over the previous year.  This did not result in an over-harvest. 

We know that First Nations west of the Fraser River will not agree to another open season on Moose however we feel that it would be viable east of the Fraser River.  According to the science of good management we need to kill off some cows and calves in order to keep the population healthy.  Moose cannot be stockpiled in the hopes that the numbers will rebound and then we can have a GOS.  A healthy moose population depends on shooting more than just bulls under LEH.

Gart Lee, our BCWF Region 5 Wildlife Commitee rep put this letter together for the folks in the Williams Lake office of the MOE. I would like to once again hear from our members at our next meeting. I believe we still have a strong majority in favour of this harvest strategy and that we all support Garth’s no nonsense approach to dealing with MOE but again, it’s been almost a year since it was presented and we have many new members, so I’m just looking for confirmation that we’re heading in the direction the majority of club members want to go.

September 1, 2010

Attention:  Rodger Stewart , Regional Manager, Cariboo Chilcotin Region, Williams Lake B.C

Dear Rodger

Further to the meeting we had with your staff and Tom Ethier on Dec. 8, 2009 we have not heard much from you and have a few items which we would like you to clarify.

In the interests of transparency and accountability, would you tell us what needs to be done (item by item) to get the Omineca type pilot project started and why it may require more than an entire year from now.  For example, do you need to consult each FN band separately or do you deal with their governing body as you do with the guide-outfitters?  This will allow us to compare actual progress with the plan.  It was suggested at one point that we start a dialogue with our local FN bands.   We have been trying to do this at Canim Lake for 8 months without success.   It seems that they like meetings when they want something, but don’t like them very much when we want something.   Consequently there has been no opportunity to point out to them how the Omineca plan could help them here by controlling predators and increasing moose calf recruitment in their hunting territory.

 Specifically we would like to know if the 2011 LEH for the area in question could include some cows in order to start raising the bull:cow ratio soon rather than later.  This should improve the calf survival rate in 2012 which would enhance the possibility of starting the Omineca plan sooner.   It should also add more opportunities to our overall LEH harvest next fall.

Whenever we talk to your Section Head about liberalizing any part of the moose hunting regs, he seems to think that for every concession there must be some kind of a sacrifice.  For instance when we talked about increasing the size of some of the M.U.s for LEH hunting in the future, he said that there would need to be a reduction in opportunities. 

It seems that he is ignoring the possibility of increasing our AAH.  There is a feeling both in our ranks and from other experts that our AAH could have been increased substantially last year.  When we go to the Omineca strategy, if we are going to add cows to our LEH in significant numbers, plus some calves and spike- fork bulls, there is going to need to be an increase in our AAH.  The only other alternative would be to decrease our LEH for bulls dramatically which puts us no further ahead.  As we said at the meeting, Region 7A harvests 9.1% of their moose each year while we harvest 5.8% not counting the FN harvest in either region.  The difference is likely due to Region 7A adding cows, calves and spike-fork bulls to their mature bull LEH to arrive at their AAH, while ignoring the FN harvest, presumably because accurate figures aren’t available from FN.  This probably explains why Region 7A has a higher AAH by % than we do.

Your past reluctance to raise our AAH is likely related to your often expressed desire to do everything possible to enhance FN’s ability to harvest.  That may be an admirable objective, but is it practicable?  We had a long discussion about predators at our meeting and it seems that your people dismissed virtually every proposal to reduce the predator population for one reason or another.  That leaves just one way remaining to do it and that is to reduce the food source that allows them to thrive and multiply.  This means introducing policies that encourage the hunting public to harvest more moose and deer by increasing opportunities for both species and both genders.   Ever since we went on LEH only, it seems that the moose population has been growing, as has the predator population.  Some stakeholders may feel that these policies offered some benefits to them, but the predators seem to have enjoyed the vast majority of these, and they may be on the verge of getting out of control.  Some of the anecdotal stories we hear about cows without calves are worrisome to say the least.  It looks like yet another example of why wildlife cannot be successfully stockpiled.  Nature ensures that the surplus gets eaten before the people the stockpile was intended to benefit can take advantage of it.  Some of the long term residents here think that if something isn’t done soon, the moose and deer populations will crash, as they have in the past, and shortly after that, the wolf population will do the same thing.  It’s a sad day when politics stands in the way of science and doing the right thing, resulting in unintended consequences that hurt the people you most want to help.

Also we recall Tom saying that the pilot area would include 5-01 and 5-02A, B, C, D.  Some of us are not sure whether he meant all of management zone 5-2 or whether he meant the 5-02 M.U.’s.   Will the pilot area include 5-15 too and if not, why not?  There is a feeling that the predator problem is most pronounced in the 5-15 units and they may need more intensive harvests of both sexes of moose to discourage the wolves.  Would you elaborate on this for us?

There has been so little communication from your office since our meeting last December, it looks like Tom Ethier came to Williams Lake just to put out a fire.   Now that it has died down, it seems like we have been forgotten.   Is the money still available to do the moose inventory that was cancelled last year due to weather and do you plan to do it in 2011?

We look forward to your response to the issues raised in some of the foregoing paragraphs and would request it at your earliest convenience.

Yours truly,  

Garth Lee- Wildlife Committee BCWF Region 5 (south) rep