VG - I have looked at the report "Ensuring a Future for Canada's grizzly bears", a fairly pompous title. I am beginning with a comment on the second sentence.

Report - “Some of these, such as mountain goat and mountain caribou, live mostly - or only - in the province.”

VG - Good populations of mountain goats are also found in Alberta, Alaska, the Yukon and even the North west territory. The "mountain caribou" is the classical woodland caribou that is found in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, in small populations. Another subspecies of caribou, the Osborn caribou, is found in the north-west of our province and is quite different from the woodland caribou. Ironically, the woodland caribou, greatly endangered currently from excessive calf mortality from predation, cannot be managed into recovery precisely because of the opposition to management of predators by environmentalists.

Do the authors know what they are talking about?

Report - “Most remarkably, unlike most places in North America, B.C. still has all of the charismatic megafauna that were present at the time of European settlement, including grizzly bears, wolves, and wolverines.”

VG - First of all, the implication that survival to this day is accidental is ignorant and arrogant as it ignores and diminishes the wildlife conservation and restoration efforts that gained international attention with the 1911 Commission on Conservation chaired by sir Clifford Sifton, followed by a close cooperation with the United States in restoring wildlife. Prior to that see the efforts of A. Bryan Williams, Provincial Game Warden or Chief Conservation Officer in British Columbia. His work gained such attention internationally that his book about his conservation efforts was translated into German in 1932. I do not have an English copy. The wildlife we enjoy is the consequence of active wildlife management and protection, not accidental survival. Canadians are generally unaware of their achievements in wildlife conservation, and this report is no exception.

Re: Horror Borealis, Peter Foster, May 21

Peter Foster noted recently that foreign funding has become the invisible hand in environmental campaigns to reform our resource-based industries. I have seen this first hand, both as a forester and as an elected official in a resource-dependent area of coastal British Columbia.

Forestry, mining, energy and aquaculture have all been targeted by Canadian environmental organizations, but the extent to which some of these campaigns are funded by foreign money has only recently begun to emerge.

With about $20-billion in assets, a handful of U.S. foundations give out about $1.2-billion in grants every year. Over the past decade these foundations have pumped over $100-million into the environmental movement in B.C. Canadian environmental organizations justify this arrangement by calling it foreign investment in Canada.

Article in the Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/walking-the-borderline-in-the-wild-west/article1536640/

The Flathead has been exceptionally managed and cared for by the people who live here for over a century, the condition of this wonderful place is testament to this. The recent ban on mining is further evidence, this initiated by our 3rd term elected representative who opposes the park. The park was an election issue in 2009, residents said no!

This area is already loved and protected; a park is unnecessary and would keep out the very people who have done such an outstanding job protecting it. Grizzly numbers in the Flathead far exceed neighboring national parks and have been rising since the 80's. Are parks good for bears?

Who believes Ottawa can manage this place better than we who live here? Rubbish!

Local hunters, fishermen, hikers, forestry and mining stakeholders meet semi annually under the SRMAC. Eco groups like Wildsight participate in this process, demand a voice. But they continue to scheme and lobby for a park with all of their wealth. This cause is a multi-million dollar cash cow for Wildsight, wealthy US foundations brimming with anonymous funding from naïve movie stars want to “do something for the environment”, anything to feel better. 

Politicized and emotional science is not science at all. An activist with a PhD or RPBio is not a scientist. Wildsight is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Where’s the danger?

Dig deeper, be certain before locking away people's freedoms for what seems like a "good idea". Visit the Flathead for yourself, feel the freedom and the wonder, let our grandkids experience this beautiful place as our grandparents did!

For another side of this story:
http://www.ekaccess.ca/

The land [non] use philosophy of the NDP carried forward by the Campbell carbonistas has resulted in a zoning jumble......parks, AMA's WMA's protected areas, special management areas, biological zones, special rules for geography and topography, do not fly a helicopter over a park or within two miles of a goat, etc. etc. etc. strongly discourages Industry of any sort to look to B.C.  for development.

On March 20th 2010, Access BC is holding our FIRST ANNUAL FUNDRAISER & AGM at the Heritage Inn, Cranbrook B.C.  Registration and coffee begin at 9:00am with the Seminar commencing at 10 am.   The title of this seminar is "ACCESS AND THE ECONOMY".  Special speakers include Dr. Alan Chambers [Retired UBC forestry professor], Mr Ken Sumanik [Retired provincial wildlife and habitat biologist], the Honorable Bill Bennett [Chair road access BC], along with local access advocates including David Reeves [retired Pastor].

It is important to our purpose and mission that a great show of enthusiasm and support occur at this planned event.  A full house is required to enable us to send the right message to Government[s], and  to the  general public. We must continuously endeavor to find the best ways to manage and use our crown lands along with  the resources they hold, to do that we need well maintained  access [roads].  A full house will also send a strong message to those who wish to see our access to crown lands denied.

Outdoor enthusiasts gathered at the Grand Forks Wildlife Hall on Saturday to talk about protecting public access to Crown land in B.C.

The guest speaker was Carmen Purdy of Access B.C., who said he founded the group after finding a forest road was deliberately destroyed to prevent public access.

“I came to a fork in the road and I took it, because I wasn’t impressed with what they were doing in terms of access, and where we were going in terms of access in this province,” he said.

http://www.grandforksgazette.ca/article/20100301/GRANDFORKS0101/302279999/0/GRANDFORKS10

“The facts and the myths about Outdoor Access”, requires some balancing statistics.  I admire the hunting accomplishments of F.J.Hurtak, count him as a good friend, and have lunch with him quite often, but I feel driven to respond to his recent column, and he encouraged me to do so!

It seems to me the article endeavoured to have the public believe that Access Management Areas, Vehicle Access Closures, gates, trenches, cross ditching, and pulled bridges only have a minimal (less than 8%) affect in restricting motorized hunting opportunities.  Is that really a fact?  I challenge you to do what I did in evaluating the access situation.

Those who deceive about the environment want us to believe what ever happens it will be catastrophic, what ever happens it will be the fault of humans, and in any event more government regulation, and bigger government will solve the problem.  I am amazed that anti-American Gerry Warner would begin his news creation on Caribou by stating "Two environmental organizations in British Columbia etc.   It may come as a surprise to Mr Warner that both of the organizations mentioned, Wildsite and the Sierra club are  funded with USA dollars.  Wildsite receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from the USA annually to shut our industry down, trash jobs and make a huge PARK out of BC, the Sierra club is entirely funded from the USA and has chosen British Columbia as their next plumb..

Gerry Warner consistently creates the news and too often follows the whims of EKES[wildsite}.  The public is being consistently misinformed  about the plight of the Purcell and Selkirk [Relic] woodland Caribou.  They ignore or hide facts that are inconvenient. Warner is bias on information provided, reporting only the political liabilities. The accuracy of data is irrelevant, political impact is the only measure of success.

Wildsight is an environmental advocacy group headquartered in Kimberly BC. It is an active participant in East Kootenay land use discussions and decisions. It is a registered charity and is required to file annual financial returns with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

A financial summary extracted from its CRA filings is shown below. Wildsight does not disclose this financial information in its annual report on its web site.