 |
|
|
|
|
Rainforest Wolf Project - Raincoast Conservation Foundation
In the summer of 2000 Raincoast
Conservation Foundation, wildlife biologist
Chris Darimont, and world-renowned large carnivore expert Dr. Paul Paquet,
began a proactive and pioneering study of wolves in the Great Bear Rainforest
(GBR) using a non-invasive methodology. This project supports the science-based
rationale for protecting ecologically important watersheds and the interacting
marine environment in the Great Bear Rainforest, and provides the basis
for hard-hitting conservation campaigns. Over 2500 scat and hair samples
have been collected and analyzed to date, and the emerging results have
significant regional and global conservation importance.
The future of the Great Bear Rainforest remains uncertain and lacks
the protection of extensive contiguous areas needed for large, far-ranging
carnivores such as wolves and grizzlies. Currently, no federal or provincial
legislation in Canada that specifically safeguards wolf habitat.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
In 2003 Raincoast will shift focus from field work
to the application and implementation of results - influencing land
use planning, applied
conservation biology initiatives, and public awareness and education.
Raincoast has established a credible rationale for conservation through
on-the-ground research, which supports their public advocacy and
communications work. After three years of scat collection, wolf tracking,
and DNA
analysis, Raincoast has begun to undertake a comprehensive plan to
raise awareness about this unique coastal wolf and advocate for wolf
protection.
The scientific information gleaned during the three field seasons studying
the coastal wolf will be implemented in the following outline in order
to work towards protecting the species, ecologically important watersheds,
and the interacting marine environment.
- Influencing Land Use Planning -
There are three levels of land use planning occurring on the north
and central coasts of British Columbia - First Nations, government-sponsored,
and the ENGO/industry Coast Information Team project. One of Raincoast’s
essential roles over the coming year will be to critically assess
the biological and social validity of plans being made for BC’s
coast, as well as to feed new and sound information into the processes.
Key
deadlines on the fate of BC’s central and north coast are looming.
Raincoast’s focus in 2003/04 will be to advocate for protection
of the wolf-deer systems identified through their research, which translates
into a 20% increase in the coast’s land base beyond what is currently
considered ecologically significant. This is, in part, based on a 2002
deer winter range study conducted by Raincoast. The study mapped the
level of conflict between critical winter habitat for deer and areas
targeted for logging. As predicted, deer winter range and areas targeted
for logging share the same characteristics: older, high volume forests
on moderate slopes. Although operable timber occurs on only 11% of
study area (which ranges from Smith Inlet to the north end of Princess
Royal
Island), it contains nearly 50% of the critical deer winter range.
These findings ultimately increase the ecologically significant land
base in
the Great Bear Rainforest by 20% above what was originally determined
in the Conservation Areas Design for BC’s central coast, including
a significant amount of genetic diversity in small salmon-producing
systems.
- Applied Conservation Biology / Wolf
Den Site Protection - Often, planning processes fall short
of addressing urgent conservation
problems. In 2002 Raincoast’s wolf research team demonstrated the
application of on-the-ground research by negotiating a 200-m buffer with
Western Forest Products for a wolf den site on the central coast’s
Yeo Island. Six den sites were documented in 2002, all of them located
in low elevation salmon-bearing valleys, far from human disturbance.
Four of these sites were being reused from 2001, reinforcing the need
to permanently protect these important pup-rearing areas.
Wolf Management
Reform / Predator Control Report
- In conjunction with large carnivore expert Dr.
Paul Paquet, Raincoast will be producing a report examining the impacts
and efficacy of lethal predator control as applied to large carnivores.
The report will focus on wolves in particular as wolf “management” remains
a dilemma for wildlife managers. It is known that wolves, and other
large predators, can have a regulatory affect on ungulates. Since 1970
biologists have studied the relationships between large predators and
ungulate prey. The efforts in Alaska have centered on relationships
of gray wolves and bears, with their principal ungulate prey, moose
and caribou. Lethal control of predators has been controversial among
the general public, and many in the scientific community have seriously
questioned its efficacy. Raincoast’s aim is to produce a peer
reviewed scientific document that will thoroughly analyze lethal predator
control and examine the non-lethal methods that are being developed
as alternatives.
Cull and Sterilization Programs - In the fall of 2002,
Raincoast worked to quash a proposal by British Columbia's Ministry
of Water, Land and
Air Protection to cull Vancouver Island wolves and cougars; however,
a limited cull around marmot colony areas was approved for the summer
of 2003. Another regressive proposal pending is focused on the 6.3-million-hectare
Muskwa-Kechika park in the northern Rockies wilderness. The plan would
see wolves being shot and trapped year-round, increasing the bag limit
from three wolves to 10. These measures, as well as a proposal to burn
120 square kms a year in the area, are in addition to the early 2003
sterilization of 13 wolves in five packs in the Muskwa-Kechika. The ministry
lacks good science on the subject as it does not conduct an inventory
on these species, and is being lobbied heavily by the hunting industry.
Raincoast’s predator control paper (above) will help to inform
these policies and outline non-lethal options for predator control in
BC.
Kill-free Refuge Areas -
The Rainforest Wolf Project seeks to establish the full protection of
wolves from killing by humans in the 30,000 km2 Heiltsuk First Nation
Territory on BC’s central coast, by creating the area as a “kill-free” zone.
This unique project would be a precedent-setting case involving local
communities that could lead the way for similar initiatives for other
species and in other areas. Raincoast will address a long-held and
well-lobbied hunting faction in BC, with roots in the guide/outfitting
industry, resident hunters, and provincial wildlife managers. Accordingly,
and drawing from their research, on-the-ground experience, and moral
frameworks, Raincoast has developed a multi-faceted rationale for the
protection of wolves that draws from several domains. Raincoast’s
intention is to create refuges in time for the 2004 summer pup-rearing
season.
- Public Education and Awareness - The Rainforest Wolf Project received a great deal of interest from
the international newspaper, magazine, radio and television media in
2002.
This has contributed greatly to Raincoast’s public education efforts.
Raincoast’s plan to bring international journalists up to the BC
coast for a media boat tour in order to raise awareness of the habitat
issues facing the wildlife and people in the Great Bear Rainforest. Raincoast
expects to have a full data set of DNA scat analysis by the fall 2003,
which will be a compelling news story in itself. Raincoast will pursue
feature news and magazine articles, radio and television coverage through
international outlets.
REFERENCES
Raincoast Conservation Society. 2003. 1 Oct. 2003 <http://www.raincoast.org/>.
Larstone, M. “Info about Raincoast” attachment. E-Mail to
Richard Edwards. 20 Oct. 2003.
|
