ELECTION 2024 OP/ED: Wildlife should be managed at arm's length from politicians

By Randy Shore

When governments use wildlife as a pawn in political games to court their base, wildlife suffers, and British Columbians suffer, too.

People in the outdoors community have been very clear that their top priority is conservation of habitat and wildlife for future generations. Sadly, examples of our government ignoring science, muzzling their own scientists when the truth is inconvenient, and bargaining away public access to public lands are depressingly numerous.

When British Columbia was handed a court decision compelling the government to address industrial encroachment on First Nations land, it responded, but not by following the direction of the court. Instead, they reduced the moose harvest for B.C. residents by 50 per cent and closed the caribou hunt completely across the region, while 195 gas, oil, and forestry projects were allowed to continue.

B.C.’s approach to this settlement is deeply unnerving. The court’s ruling does not even mention hunting as a factor in the infringement of the Blueberry Nation’s Treaty 8 rights, but somehow curtailing hunting became the remedy.

When access to the outdoors and the natural assets of this province become bargaining chips to be dealt away for industrial development and political gain, we all lose. How long will it be before access to large swaths of public land are lost for hiking, camping, and recreation to all British Columbians?

We may already know the answer. Restrictions on public access to Crown lands are already on the books.

Researchers have found that British Columbians believe that fish and wildlife management is poorly funded, that government is shirking its duty to conserve and protect, and that decisions about wildlife management should be made by professionals, based on science, rather than by elected officials.

Management of fish and wildlife should be the responsibility of an agency independent of the government, one that is not influenced by commercial interests or political popularity contests. Objectives need to be legislated and science-based to ensure that all wildlife populations are abundant and sustainable.

When the provincial government tried to rush through changes to the Land Act, citizens pushed back hard, sensing that their opportunities to enjoy the land, water, and bounty of British Columbia would be next. The government was forced to back down and their feeble public consultation was halted.

Public consultation must be genuine if British Columbians are to embrace substantial changes in the way that public resources are co-managed. All of us deserve a say in our shared future. It’s time to move away from secret negotiations, hijacked process, and agreements which are neither shared with nor debated by British Columbians until it is too late. We are tired of engaging on regulations knowing that the decision has already been made behind closed doors.

An agency that is independent of the government influence is needed to ensure that our ability to access parks, hike, camp, fish and hunt is protected and that decisions about managing natural resources and harvesting are made based on science, not political expediency.

The upcoming provincial election is the right time to demand better from our elected officials.

Randy Shore is a PR & Communications Specialist at the B.C. Wildlife Federation.