Re: Wildsight not interested in what is fair…

[young_local]

"Responsible sportsmen recognize that core protected areas are required to sustain healthy populations for better hunting outside its boundaries. Currently there is less than 5 acres of wildlife sanctuaries in all of Southeastern BC. The closest being Waterton-Glacier National Park to the South and Kootenay and Glacier National Parks to the north.

British Columbia should do its part in contributing to the core protected area of Waterton-Glacier and fill in the missing piece. If this is not done the core protected area is incomplete. Just look at a map to see the big chunk missing out of it where BC protrudes into it."

Ryland-
I respect what you guys have done and the hard work put into everything, but there’s one place where Wildsight always misses the mark. It’s when it comes down to addressing the many locals who depend on the Flathead as part of their livelihoods, be it with hunting or fishing, and the other locals that use the Flathead to recreate in frequently. What you guys always say is that we should do our part to protect the wildlife, but never admit that the wildlife in the flathead is not in danger because of hunters/outfitters. We all agree that a mine would ruin what you and I both know as the best place to spend a weekend, so why not leave it at that and not take away the use of the Flathead from all of us?
The Fernie Rod and Gun club, GOABC, RMEF, and many others have a GREAT handle on the wildlife situation in the flathead. We are the ones out there constantly, and have eye-witness experience to the abundance of many animals in the flathead. Last year I saw more grizzly bears in the "park" area then ever before, so I don’t believe that we as outfitters and hunters are doing any harm by controlling the population of our wildlife. This part of BC has a great reputation for doing what is right, and what needs to be done to both control rising populations of species, and help rebuild declining populations (have a look at what the 4-spike regulation for mule-deer did, or the 6-spike bull elk rule) Take grizzly bears, before 2000 there was an outstanding decrease in the population of grizzlies in all of southern BC, so the government shut down all hunting of grizzly bears – didn’t help-. It wasn’t until there were better regulations on grizzly bear hunting that we finally were on the right track (Many thanks to the late Bob Fontana). This is because the guide/outfitters know how to properly control the population- a park would create problems because there just isn’t enough land to support all the grizzlies without proper control. I believe if there were to be a park, we would see a decline in grizzly bear population.

A quote from one of wildsight’s publications way back. "The Flathead is home to an astounding 16 species of carnivores, ranging from the mischievous pine marten to the towering grizzly bear. Six species of hoofed animals (ungulates), roam the spacious valley bottom and serrated mountain tops ‚Äì including elk, bighorn sheep, moose and mountain goat. The density of grizzly bears here is greater than anywhere else in the interior of North America."

Hunting has been going on in the flathead valley for a hundred years, and look at what we have? ^
Drop the park idea- we don’t need it. But keep up the good work with the rest of your conservation efforts.