Cash-strapped ministry cannibalizing programs for wildlife, staff head for the exit

• Government cuts travel funding for fish and wildlife staff

• Field staff asked to turn in their government cell phones to cut costs

• Regional office decimated by frustrated staff quitting or on leave

Provincial government fish and wildlife programs are in crisis after control of wildlife programs were transferred out of the Ministry of Forests.

Science and stewardship staff at the Ministry of Wildlife, Land and Resource Management are facing a ban on travel in the field and in some departments staff have been asked to turn in their government cell phones as a cost-saving measure. Operational budgets have been effectively cut by 30-70%.

When staff can’t travel to oversee programs, those programs are typically cancelled. Bighorn sheep disease management in the Okanagan has already been cancelled and this winter’s wildlife inventories will likely suffer the same fate. B.C.’s caribou recovery program is $2.2 million short of its $10 million budget, for monitoring, research, habitat restoration, and predator control.

Demoralized staff are quitting or taking extended leaves of absence, which has left some regional offices almost entirely unstaffed.

“The Okanagan office used to have four fisheries biologists and three wildlife biologists, but now has only one wildlife and one fisheries biologist left,” said B.C. Wildlife Federation Executive Director Jesse Zeman.

Staff in parts of the province are being asked to turn in their cell phones as a cost-saving measure.

“When the Fish and Wildlife Branch was within the Ministry of Forests, they were able to paper over some of the budget shortfalls by using ministry contingency funds, but those funds are no longer available,” said Zeman. “MoF recognized that fish and wildlife operations were chronically underfunded and did what they could to fill the gaps. That is no longer happening.”

Funding for Chronic Wasting Disease management has been diverted from the provincial Together for Wildlife program, which is intended to promote habitat restoration and wildlife stewardship, not manage disease.

“We have new invasive threats like Zebra mussels, whirling disease, and chronic wasting disease all landing in or beside B.C. in the past year and the government hasn’t come up with any new money to fight them,” said Zeman. “They are cannibalizing their core operations to mount any kind of response.”

In order to work in the field, fish and wildlife staff have to rely on funds from non-government organizations such as the BCWF to pay for travel and accommodations or to take money from project funds.  In the past the province offered funds and in-kind support, most of which has now dried up.

“Fish and Wildlife Branch staff are relying on charity to do their work and that means that research, fish and wildlife inventories, and habitat restoration will not get done,” said Zeman.

British Columbia was already suffering from chronic underfunding with one of the most poorly funded fish and wildlife management agencies in North America. The creation of the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship has exacerbated the shortfall.

“Government biologists feel completely abandoned, their jobs are meaningless and they are questioning government employment entirely,” said Zeman.

Many of the employees who moved from MoF to the new ministry were being funded from contingency funds, which are not available in the new ministry leading to drastic cuts in the funds available for operations.

“Across the province there is next to no operational budget,” said Zeman. “I expect projects to be cancelled, others scaled back, and that some fish and wildlife inventories will go un-funded.”