Whereas the population of the Southern Mountain Caribou herds in British Columbia has been declining; And whereas the provincial and federal governments are reviewing whether the Southern Mountain Caribou should be protected by the Species at Risk Act; And whereas application of the Act will directly affect both the recreational pursuits of local residents as well as the regional tourism and natural resource sectors; And whereas municipal and regional district governments have not been given the opportunity to participate in public consultation discussions to date about the Southern Mountain Caribou and the potential implications of the application of the Species at Risk Act despite the significant impacts on local recreation, tourism, and resource sectors: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM advocate for the participation of municipal and regional district governments that are likely to be affected and that the provincial and federal governments begin a process of public consultation in regards to the potential application of the Species at Risk Act pertaining to the Southern Mountain Caribou and Boreal Caribou.
Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Through the Provincial Caribou Recovery Program, the Government of BC has committed 47 million over 5 years to support the recovery of this iconic species. The Caribou Recovery Program is committed to ensuring that Indigenous Nations, local governments, stakeholders and the natural resource sector are able to participate in the planning and implementation of caribou recovery measures. In March 2019, the Province began public engagement on the draft southern mountain caribou bilateral conservation agreement with Canada section 11 agreement, as well as the draft partnership agreement between the Province, Canada, West Moberly First Nations and Saulteau First Nations for the conservation of the central group of the southern mountain caribou partnership agreement. On Nov. 29, 2019 the BC government hosted the Leaders Table meeting in Vancouver which included representatives from local government, the Peace River Regional District and industry. The goals of that meeting were to: - Provide an inclusive and respectful forum where caribou-related issues can be discussed, constructive feedback is welcomed, and additional information can be gathered to help formulate positive solutions. - Develop stronger working relationships between all participants to help maintain an open and mutually beneficial dialogue, and to foster a comprehensive exchange of ideas and information in future. Participants discussed how best to move forward to implement the draft Partnership Agreement between the BC government, the federal government, West Moberly First Nations and Saulteau First Nations. After the first Leaders Table met in Fall 2019, we established several working groups to ensure local governments, First Nations, industry and other stakeholders are fully heard and involved in the work of caribou recovery. - Snowmobile Advisory Committee will include local snowmobile clubs and local government and will work to ensure that any snowmobile management plans for the South Peace Region are informed with local input. - The Caribou Recovery Related Land Use Objective Stakeholder Committee will include industry and local governments and will ensure local governments, industry and stakeholders are fully involved in the process of developing Caribou Recovery Related Land Use Objectives. - The Socio-Economic Committee will include industry and local government and will review the work done by Big River Analytics and provide recommendations to BC and Canada on further analysis that is needed to understand the impacts of the Partnership Agreement and plan mitigation strategies. BC is committed to engaging with communities through these working groups to address the concerns that have been raised to support the successful implementation of the Partnership Agreement.