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VICTORIA – The Province is immediately activating a $3.4-million, five-year action plan to recover B.C.’s northern spotted owl, Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell announced today.
Based on the work of the Canadian Spotted Owl Recovery Team, the Province will act as soon as possible to:
·
Initiate
measures to re-build spotted owl populations. These measures include captive
breeding and release, moving spotted owls to new locations, increasing food
sources for spotted owls, and managing competing species such as barred owls;
·
Evaluate
and revise existing spotted owl management areas to ensure they better protect
owls. This will be a collaborative effort working closely with staff in the
ministries of Environment and Forests and Range, the Federal Government, First
Nations and forest licensees; and
·
Continue
detailed, site-by-site analysis in consultation with Environment Canada to
provide an appropriate amount of habitat protection in areas where the 2005
survey reported spotted owls.
“B.C. is home to Canada’s northern spotted owl population, and as a recognized leader in environmental sustainability, we are committed to attempting to recover this at-risk species,” said Bell. “Ongoing consultations with affected First Nations and forest licensees are also extremely important and will continue.”
B.C. is the northernmost edge of the spotted owl’s range, accounting for less than half of one per cent of the species’ global population. There are approximately 6,100 spotted owls in the western United States.
Over the last decade, B.C. has managed more than 363,000 hectares of spotted owl habitat by fully protecting 159,000 hectares in parks and protected areas and designating the other 204,000 hectares of provincial forest as “spotted owl range” areas within which:
· 67 per cent of forested habitat suitable for spotted owls (i.e. old growth forest) must be retained;
· Harvesting must not take place on more than 50 per cent of the land base; and
· No forest harvesting is permitted within 500 metres of a nest site.
Despite this strict forest management regime, spotted owl surveys concluded last summer and evaluated last fall noted a continued decline in spotted owl numbers. In many of these areas, there has been little to no harvesting for many years. There are six known pairs of spotted owls remaining in B.C. The province’s spotted owl population has declined from approximately 200 in 1993 to about 22 today. For that reason, B.C. is investing $3.4 million over the next five years to augment habitat protection with measures to rebuild the populations directly.
The recent expansion of more aggressive barred owls from the eastern U.S. is thought to out-compete and displace spotted owls. Government intends to experiment with barred owl relocation and some Midwestern states have expressed interest in receiving barred owls from B.C.
“Captive rearing and release is an option that should be seriously considered to enhance and preserve the population of northern spotted owl in B.C.,” said Dr. Ken Macquisten, veterinarian at the Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife. “Such a program would model itself on the successes of similar captive rearing programs for species such as the burrowing owl, whooping crane, peregrine falcon, Vancouver Island marmot and the black-footed ferret.”
The government established the Provincial Species at Risk Co-ordination Office (SaRCO) in 2004 and has since invested $1 million to accelerate recovery planning for several key species, including spotted owl and mountain caribou. SaRCO works with stakeholders, First Nations and all levels of government to provide a “corporate approach” to recovery planning for broad ranging key species and to review and make recommendations on how the Province addresses species at risk issues.
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contact: |
Communications Director Ministry of Agriculture and Lands 250 356-2862 250 213-3072 (cell) |
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For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
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