Vancouver Island Roosevelt Elk Evicted from Winter Home
By B. McPherson
Weep for this small
group of Roosevelt Elk. They will probably be dead by spring. They’ve come down
from the Island Range of mountains to winter in the Douglas Fir lowlands. Big
surprise for them this year – the local First Nation group has been given permission
to log the endangered fir trees. They no longer have a winter home.
The Province of British Columbia touts its “Supernatural BC”
on its car license plates. It is a beautiful province but like any delicate
treasure it needs to be treated gently. The Nanoose Bay forest is being logged
on Vancouver Island. The land is crown land, that is publicly owned, yet
desperate pleas and court cases have failed to dissuade the provincial
government and the Snaw-Naw-As First Nation from logging a forest that holds
endangered old growth Douglas Fir trees as well as red listed(critically
endangered) plants and animals.
For more details on this rare jewel that is being killed off
along with the organisms that depend on its shelter go to this site: http://www.nanoosebayforest.com/
What will the Snaw-Naw-As people do with these magnificent trees?
Make traditional totem poles, construct a long house, maybe even build some log
homes for their people? Nope, they are going to sell them to TimberWest who will
export them as raw logs.
TimberWest tells the world that they are part of a group
that only sells timber from sustainable areas. It is well known that about 90%
of the wood sold around the world as coming from sustainable sources and
marketed as sustainably sourced is from similarly devastated areas.
Vancouver Island Roosevelt elk number about 3200, of which
about 3000 live on Vancouver Island. They can reach over 1000 pounds with
impressive antlers. A small, controlled hunt is legal each year but poaching continues
to be a problem. Most of the elk live on the north end of the island. A small
group lives in the mountains west of Nanaimo and descend to the lowlands when
the snow drives them down.
The biggest threat to extinction of these magnificent
creatures is habitat destruction like what we are witnessing in Nanoose Bay.
The local cougar population won’t tackle these megafauna and their main
enemy(aside from humans) is the Vancouver Island wolves. Wolves usually target
weakened animals. Animals that have been driven from their familiar winter
homes to forage who knows where, will be disoriented and underfed.
Comments
Post a Comment