The B.C. government’s elk recovery program on the Sunshine Coast is largely a success story after elk were extirpated from the B.C. mainland in the early 1900s, however more needs to be done to protect this still vulnerable species. Studies by the B.C. Wildlife Branch show that elk and deer on Vancouver Island suffered substantial population die-offs in the mid-1960s and mid-1970s during periodic deep snow winters. In such winters, the best elk habitat is older closed canopy forests at lower elevations. The die-offs happened because too much older forest had been clearcut and not enough left for the ungulates to shelter in during severe winter conditions. Since that time the Province has moved to protect more elk and deer winter habitat on Vancouver Island, known as Ungulate Winter Range (UWR), but have failed to provide adequate UWR on the Sunshine Coast leaving them at risk even as climate change is making weather extremes more common.
An independent biologist’s study commissioned by Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) found that while the Ministry of Forests has spent 20 years planning to protect deer winter range on the Sunshine Coast, very little has been set aside and none for overwintering elk. According to professional biologist and ungulate specialist Wayne McCrory, who mapped potential elk winter range on the Sunshine Coast, it continues to be clearcut. Documents obtained from the Ministry through FOI requests by ELF’s legal representative revealed that government biologists were themselves concerned that so little UWR was being set aside for deer on the Sunshine Coast. They referred to a Vancouver Island study that concluded 10% of a watershed’s low elevation older forest needed to be protected to meet the biological needs of elk and deer populations during severe winters with deep snow.
As a pilot test case, McCrory modeled elk UWR in the Wilson Creek watershed and found there was still enough older, low elevation forest left for the elk if it were adequately protected. The study found that government conservation measures such as Old Growth Management Areas and the small Class A Parks were not adequate to meet elk winter habitat requirements. McCrory recommended the Ministry of Forests move soon to protect enough elk and deer winter range on the Sunshine Coast before it’s lost.
ELF also retained the services of Ian Moore, barrister and solicitor, to provide a legal opinion and direction on the lack of critical UWR for Roosevelt Elk across the Sunshine Coast Forest District as it’s a blue-listed species and at risk {see definition below). This opinion was sought in consideration of a 2003 provincial government order directed at the Sunshine Coast Forest District to establish UWR for Roosevelt elk. To date the agency has still not designated any winter habitat for this vulnerable species.
“B.C. has the greatest biodiversity of any Canadian province and yet also has the most species at risk. And those species are faced with continual deterioration of their habitat due to the lack of political will to commit to the principles of precaution and recovery of habitat,” states Ross Muirhead of ELF. “Elk has specific habitat needs during the winter, as they move to lower elevations to find browse and to escape deep snow. However, they’re faced with a continual loss of this critical habitat due to ongoing pressures from logging and urban development. McCrory’s report and field studies show that a conservation opportunity still exists to secure this specific habitat, but we need to act now before that loss reaches a tipping point for this recovering species.”
According to shíshálh hereditary Chief (hiwus) and former shíshálh Nations elected Chief Calvin Craigan “If k’éyich (elk) are to survive to be around for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to enjoy in the future, we need to protect enough older forest for them to survive in the winter, as there is so little left.”
- Moore’s legal cover letter
- McCrory’s study “Review of Ministry of Forests Roosevelt Elk and Black-Tailed Deer Winter Habitat Planning in the Sunshine Coast Timber Supply Area 2004-2023”
Blue: Includes any native species or ecological community considered to be of Special Concern (formerly Vulnerable) in British Columbia. Species or ecological communities of Special Concern have characteristics that make them particularly sensitive or vulnerable to human activities or natural events. Blue-listed species or ecological communities are at risk, but are not Extirpated, Endangered or Threatened.
