Conservation groups in British Columbia are condemning the federal government for its inaction on completing critical habitat mapping for endangered caribou herds. They argue that the delay, spanning a decade, is directly contributing to the decline and potential extinction of these animals.
Conservation groups in British Columbia are accusing the federal government of dragging its feet for a decade on fulfilling its duty to complete critical habitat mapping for endangered caribou herds. They warn that without urgent action, the animals will face extinction. A letter sent to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault by Ecojustice on behalf of the Wilderness Committee, Wildsight and Stand.
earth states that three populations of southern mountain caribou are in steep decline due to logging and other industrial development encroaching upon their habitat. Southern mountain caribou are currently listed as threatened under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. A 2020 federal government statement indicated their population was roughly 3,100, a 53 per cent decrease over approximately six years. Ottawa released a recovery strategy and partial habitat mapping for the caribou in 2014, but the conservation groups argue that the mapping has not been finalized. This finalization is a requirement under the legislation and a crucial step toward halting the decline. The letter from Ecojustice lawyer Sean Nixon reveals that the last update from Environment Canada suggested a proposed recovery strategy with critical habitat mapping would be released sometime in 2026, although this timeline could be subject to change. Eddie Petryshen, a conservation specialist with Wildsight based in British Columbia’s East Kootenay region, asserts that successive federal governments and environment ministers have repeatedly “kicked the can further down the road,” and this pattern persists today. ‘It’s just been this constant, decade-long plan to make a plan while caribou are disappearing and their habitat is being decimated and logged,” Petryshen states. He points out that eight out of 18 herds in the southern group have been extirpated - a term for local extinction - over the past two decades. “We know what’s causing that extirpation,” he adds. Southern mountain caribou rely on old-growth forests for survival, and Petryshen says an analysis conducted by the Wilderness Committee revealed that more than 190,000 hectares of the southern group’s critical habitat were logged between 2007 and 2023. He explains that this analysis utilized Ottawa’s partial habitat identification from 2014. Additionally, using mapping from the provincial government in 2019, they discovered that over 310,000 hectares of critical habitat were logged during the same period. The Ecojustice letter, dated January 22, contends that Ottawa’s ongoing delays and inaction “amount to a tacit endorsement of the extermination of a species.
ENDANGERED SPECIES CARIBOU HABITAT PROTECTION CLIMATE CHANGE CONSERVATION
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