Drastic reductions to certain hunts, prescribed burns and collaring predators are all on the table to help manage Northeast B.C.’s struggling moose populations, the B.C. government says.
Earlier this month, the province announced a suite of new strategies and funding aimed at protecting B.C. moose.
Those measures, announced Oct. 12, include reducing province-wide limited-entry hunts for moose cows and calves from 1,792 five years ago to just 200 this year, as well as new moose management plans and habitat restoration.
Peace Region moose populations have declined precipitously over the past two decades as the oil and gas industry and out-of-region hunters encroach into the back country.
According to one study in a management area north of Fort St. John, moose population density fell 70 per cent between 2001 and 2015. But other management areas, including Farrell Creek, have seen moose populations climb by nearly the same amount.
Overall, moose and other ungulate populations have been hard hit by new access to the back country—including pipelines, electricity transmission infrastructure and roads, which have made it easier for wolves and other predators to track down moose. The ease with which wolves can now hunt moose and other prey is one of the reasons the province began its controversial wolf cull.
“In the last decade, our moose have definitely declined,” said Andy Waddell of the Dawson Creek Sportsman’s Club. “There’s just so much more access into the back country now.”
In the Peace Region, there are currently open seasons for bull moose as well as four limited-entry hunts for “antlerless” moose.
Unlike the open season, limited-entry hunts require hunters to enter draws for a small number of animals.
The limited-entry hunts are being cut “in light of reductions in moose populations across the province,” the ministry said in a statement.
Around $235,000 of the $1.2 million spending package is earmarked for additional moose inventory work in the Peace, as well as habitat enhancement plans that could include controlled burns “designed to generate vegetation that is high-value forage for moose.’
Also on the table: collaring of wolves to determine predator-prey dynamics.
The new spending follows a report from Al Gorley, former chair of the Forest Practices Board, who made 21 recommendations to shore up moose populations.
Waddell said the Peace is unique because it has one of the last open-season moose hunts in B.C., which attracts out-of-region hunters.
“There’s just so much more access into the back country now,” he said. “It’s not just the moose population. There’s just that much more access for everyone.”
