Water Stewardship Information Sources
| Citation | Paquet, P, Darimont, C, Nelson, RJ and Bennett, K. 2004. A critical assessment of protection for key wildlife and salmon habitats under the proposed British Columbia Central Coast Land and Resource Management Plant, March 2004. Raincoast Conservation Society. |
|---|---|
| Organization | Raincoast Conservation Society |
| URL | http://raincoast.org/files/publications/reports/CCLRMP-final-analysis.pdf |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | The Central Coast Land and Resource Management Plan (CCLRMP) table recently declared a consensus1 on proposed protected areas for British Columbia’s Central Coast. This region is recognized for its globally rare and largely intact mainland and island ecosystems and land use decisions should reflect this importance. We evaluated the efficacy of this proposal using a spatial assessment of habitat. We focus on protected areas in the context of the overall CCLRMP. We examined the level of protection provided by the CCLRMP in three key coastal habitats: deer winter range, wolf reproductive habitat, and salmon reproductive and rearing habitat. Assessment of deer winter range was limited to Heiltsuk Territory, which comprises a large proportion of the CCLRMP region. We found that proposed protected areas fail to provide sufficient long-term protection of secure habitat for deer, wolves, and salmon. Seventy percent (70%) of deer winter range, a non-renewable natural resource under current forestry management regimes, remains unprotected. Likewise, protection of wolf habitat important for successful reproduction is seriously deficient. Only six of 13 known homesites occur in proposed protected areas. Moreover, only 34% of 5 km buffers and 27% of 15 km buffers around wolf dens are included in protected areas. The buffers represent areas that denning wolves depend on to support newborn and growing pups. Analysis of salmon spawning and rearing habitat shows that 75% of chum and chinook, 74% of coho, 72% of pink, and 67% of sockeye populations are not protected under the plan. Because we lack complete information regarding distribution of salmon populations, the number of unprotected salmon runs is likely much higher than analyses show. Moreover, conservation priority of salmon populations has not been sufficiently considered by proposed protected areas. The CCLRMP fails to acknowledge the importance of genetic structure of salmon populations. Because of this, the lack of watershed protection could result in lost habitat for unique salmon populations. Coastal islands overall, and outer islands in particular, are poorly protected by the proposed CCLRMP. Yet, ecologists regard islands among the most fragile of all environments. Considering that the Central Coast is largely an archipelago ecosystem, such a fundamental error in conservation planning is difficult to understand. Remarkably, the proposed protected areas do not prohibit the killing of carnivores for sport and profit. Consequently, these areas provide little or no protection for wolves, black bears, grizzly bears or smaller carnivores. Failure to include these measures indicates that these areas are not in fact protected. The CCLRMP is relying on Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) to compensate for the low level of protection provided by the plan. Although we support the theory behind EBM and the need for ecologically sound management across the landscape, we cannot endorse EBM as a surrogate for protected areas. There is simply too much uncertainty as to how EBM will be implemented on the ground. EBM in the context of industrial forestry is an unproven and potentially dangerous strategy to preserve biodiversity outside of protected areas. |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Central Coast |
| Sub-watershed if known | |
| Aquifer # | |
| Comments | |
| Project status | complete |
| Contact Name | Chris Darimont |
| Contact Email | [email protected] |