Wildlife Director’s Message – Lance Nagwan

WILDLIFE

Director ’s Message

Lance Nagwan

Wildlife Director

The 2021 Fall hunting season is over. Hopefully you were lucky enough to fill your freezer with fat meat. The Tahltan Central Government (TCG) Wildlife Department has been working extremely hard to increase opportunities for all community members to successfully harvest an animal to meet their family’s needs. Ongoing work is being done behind the scenes with the Province of British Columbia to accomplish year one goals set under the Tahltan/BC Wildlife Accord.

One notable highlighted success under the Wildlife Accord this year was the commitment of increased BC Provincial Conservation Officer enforcement on the landscape. The collaborative effort had the TCG Guardians assisting Conservation Officers in enforcement patrols and hunter tag compliance and monitoring.

Thank you to all Tahltan members for your continuous support, conservation efforts and participation in all forms of management throughout the year.

Last year in 2020, the TCG Wildlife Department and Guardians’ trapping efforts for wolves was directed to reduce the pressure on moose populations in and around the communities of Dease Lake, Iskut and Telegraph Creek. Guardians were able to remove twelve wolves by trapping methods and deployed fourteen GPS Collars throughout the territory. TCG Wildlife Department wolf collar information collected over the past year guided our decision to focus on Boreal mountain caribou wintering areas within Tahltan Territory.

The TCG trapping program is ongoing. A lot of time and effort has been invested. The desired effect is to reduce harvest levels of large packs which specifically target and specialize in killing caribou.

A request from Tahltan members to increase the Wolf Harvest Incentive from $500 to $1,000 has been approved and will be implemented as of November 1, 2021.

TCG Guardians will work closely with local community members who are actively trapping or have a willingness to learn to target wolves in Tahltan Territory. For additional information, please contact

the TCG Wildlife Department for additional updates on techniques along with recommendations on equipment that we have field tested.

Tahltan Nation harvest numbers are not known for the territory. Guardians will begin contacting members both in person and by phone and requesting harvest information. Harvest surveys are conducted on a voluntary basis.

• Accuracy of information is critical to inform next year’s Resident Hunter Allocation of hunting tags sold for specific regions of Tahltan Territory.

• This is the initial year of the Tahltan membership harvest data collection program. The same information will be collected from members every year moving forward.

• Wildlife Department Calendars will be issued to

Tahltan Harvesters to track their harvest and any additional data you feel is worth mentioning or want to know more about.

• Our future plans include the development of a

TCG Wildlife app to assist tracking data and information digitally.

Above: Outdoor snaring demonstration as part of last year's Guardians summer predator removal training course.