HELI-SKIING AVALANCHE Munich brewing industry leader dies in huge slide in Adamants tenure - 7
V
E
L
S
T
O
K
E
Workers with the Revelstoke Caribou Rearing in the Wild project release pregnant caribou cows they caught on Mar. 24 into a protective pen north of Revelstoke. The project aims to protect the cows and their offspring through the critical months of pregnancy and the first weeks of the calves’ lives. Rob Buchanan/RCRW
First dozen Revelstoke-area caribou captured and released into maternity pen editor@revelstoketimesreview.com
Organizers of the Mar. 24 caribou round-up say the effort to transplant a dozen mountain caribou into a 6.5-hectare maternity pen located on the west side of Lake Revelstoke was a success. In an exhausting day-long drive, professionals and volunteers gathered up 10 caribou cows and two yearlings. Of them, nine are pregnant. Revelstoke Times Review readers will be familiar with the Revelstoke Caribou Rearing in the Wild
(RCRW) maternity penning project. In early 2013, our newspaper coordinated an eight-part column series on the project, as part of the successful drive to get $100,000 in funding from the social-media-based Shell Fuelling Change program. The maternity penning project’s concept is simple. Mountain caribou research shows calf mortality is driven significantly by predation in the first months of their lives. The project captures and places cows into a 6.5-hectare pen that is protected by fencing, a visual barrier, electronic sensing equipment and human shepherds.
S-Games IV! 11
$1.25
PM40050491
Caribou wranglers
Aaron Orlando
1
Weds., April 2, 2014 www.revelstoketimesreview.com Vol. 117, No. 14
50 0 1 6
TIMESReview
78195
E
7
R
Revelstoke forest industry stakeholders: imminent federal mountain caribou recovery plan will be ‘catastrophe’ for local industry Critics say new federal plan that was forced in as the federal government lost a Species at Risk Act court case is a rushed job that’s poorly coordinated with the existing provincial plan. They emphatically warn of big job losses in the Revelstoke forest industry, and say predator management – a wolf cull – is a major, scientifically-proven pillar of any caribou recovery plan, but has never been enacted. Amongst other things, they’re pushing for full implementation of the provincial plan, and changes to the federal plan to align it with the provincial one.
The pregnant cows spend several months inside and for about a month after they give birth. It’s based partially on a successful program in the Yukon. The project was notable locally because it got a broad spectrum of mountain caribou stakeholders on board, including snowmobilers, environmentalists, forestry stakeholders, Parks Canada, backcountry recreations groups and government ministries. Not all have seen eye-toeye on caribou issues in the past. Kevin Bollefer, a Revelstoke-
Aaron Orlando
Caribou pen, page 10
Turn to page 3
editor@revelstoketimesreview.com
A Revelstoke-based forest industry stakeholder group is joining provincial and regional forest industry associations in their opposition to a proposed federal plan to save mountain caribou. The Revelstoke-based Columbia River Wet Belt Group has joined the Council of Forest Industries and the Interior Lumber Manufacturers Association in a warning that the recently-announced federal plan will have “devastating” and “catastrophic” impacts on the B.C. Interior forest industry, including here in Revelstoke. They are rallying against the ‘Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou, Southern Mountain Caribou population in Canada,’ a federal recovery plan which opened for consultation on January 17, 2014 – just
SIGN UP AND ENTER TO
WIN $20,000 IN HOME ENTERTAINMENT PRIZES RE/MAX has partnered with the WHL to give you the chance to win some amazing home entertainment prizes. Go to www.whlremaxhometeam.ca for more information and to enter the competition. Competition closes April 30th, 2014.
Revelstoke Realty
Each office independently owned and operated
"Right Agents for Today's Market" 209 1st St. West, Revelstoke, BC V0E 2S0 250-837-5121/fax: 250-837-7020 revelstoke-realty.com OMREB
Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board