Recreation

Too Many Motors?

The critical winter range of mountain caribou overlaps considerably with backcountry recreation activities such as helicopter skiing, snow-cat skiing, and snowmobiling. Technological advances and unregulated access has led to more and more people spending their winter play time in endangered mountain caribou habitat. Commercial recreation enterprises have unprecedented access to BC’s wilderness. This adds additional stress to an animal that is already being squeezed by habitat fragmentation, at a time of the year when it is most vulnerable because of the increased energy demands of winter.

Instead of regulating BC’s back-country recreation industries and setting clear, enforceable standards, the BC government has relied on voluntary “best management practices” to reduce impacts to caribou. Additionally, the BC government continues to grant helicopter ski tenures, as recently as December 2005, in critical winter mountain caribou habitat, despite protests from independent and government biologists.