Protect Mountain Caribou
#117 WILD NORTHWEST, February 15, 2005
A Message from Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
=====Keeping the Northwest Wild=====
Protect Endangered Mountain Caribou
Help avert a massive heli-ski proposal in inland temperate rainforest
A massive heli-ski operation proposed by BearPaw Heli-skiing for the Rocky Mountains east of Prince George, BC, would overlap prime wintering habitat for approximately one-quarter of the world's last remaining mountain caribou, putting at even higher risk the future of an animal more endangered than the black rhino. Winter is the most critical time for caribou survival, a season when they are under nutritional stress.
Please go to http://www.wildcanada.net/caribou by March 18 to send a free fax. (Although the web site says Feb. 11, the public comment date was recently extended to March 18.) Demand that the BC government protect mountain caribou and deny this 0.5 million hectare (1.25 million acre) recreation proposal on Crown (public) lands in Canada. Because the US is a key target market for tourism, it is helpful for the BC government to hear from Americans on these issues.
Uniquely adapted to the inland temperate rainforest of south-eastern BC and parts of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, mountain caribou are found nowhere else in the world. Logging of old-growth forests, historic over-hunting, and a sharp increase in backcountry recreation have resulted in a rapid decline of mountain caribou; today only 1,670 animals remain. In the last two years the BC government has engaged in a massive commercial give-away of BC's backcountry, granting tenures to snowmobile touring companies, heli-ski and heli-hike companies, back-country lodges, and huge resort proposals such as the Jumbo four-season alpine resort planned for the Purcell Mountains. The cumulative impacts on BC's wildlife and wild spaces is immense. Your voice today can help curtail these effects.
For more information on mountain caribou, visit http://www.mountaincaribou.org.
Find a map of current and historic mountain caribou range at http://www.forestethics.org/html/eng/894.shtml#map.
Please reply to this email to let us know that you sent a letter. And thanks for taking action to keep the greater Northwest wild!
"...substantial and continuing decline in the mountain caribou population is serious and requires urgent government attention."
~BC Forest Practices Board report, September 2004
"(t)he proposal as it stands continues to expose mountain caribou to high risk of environmental degradation and population decline."
~BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection
Erin Moore
Communications Coordinator
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
1208 Bay St., Ste. 201
Bellingham, WA 98225
360.671.9950 ext. 24
A Message from Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
=====Keeping the Northwest Wild=====
Protect Endangered Mountain Caribou
Help avert a massive heli-ski proposal in inland temperate rainforest
A massive heli-ski operation proposed by BearPaw Heli-skiing for the Rocky Mountains east of Prince George, BC, would overlap prime wintering habitat for approximately one-quarter of the world's last remaining mountain caribou, putting at even higher risk the future of an animal more endangered than the black rhino. Winter is the most critical time for caribou survival, a season when they are under nutritional stress.
Please go to http://www.wildcanada.net/caribou by March 18 to send a free fax. (Although the web site says Feb. 11, the public comment date was recently extended to March 18.) Demand that the BC government protect mountain caribou and deny this 0.5 million hectare (1.25 million acre) recreation proposal on Crown (public) lands in Canada. Because the US is a key target market for tourism, it is helpful for the BC government to hear from Americans on these issues.
Uniquely adapted to the inland temperate rainforest of south-eastern BC and parts of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, mountain caribou are found nowhere else in the world. Logging of old-growth forests, historic over-hunting, and a sharp increase in backcountry recreation have resulted in a rapid decline of mountain caribou; today only 1,670 animals remain. In the last two years the BC government has engaged in a massive commercial give-away of BC's backcountry, granting tenures to snowmobile touring companies, heli-ski and heli-hike companies, back-country lodges, and huge resort proposals such as the Jumbo four-season alpine resort planned for the Purcell Mountains. The cumulative impacts on BC's wildlife and wild spaces is immense. Your voice today can help curtail these effects.
For more information on mountain caribou, visit http://www.mountaincaribou.org.
Find a map of current and historic mountain caribou range at http://www.forestethics.org/html/eng/894.shtml#map.
Please reply to this email to let us know that you sent a letter. And thanks for taking action to keep the greater Northwest wild!
"...substantial and continuing decline in the mountain caribou population is serious and requires urgent government attention."
~BC Forest Practices Board report, September 2004
"(t)he proposal as it stands continues to expose mountain caribou to high risk of environmental degradation and population decline."
~BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection
Erin Moore
Communications Coordinator
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
1208 Bay St., Ste. 201
Bellingham, WA 98225
360.671.9950 ext. 24
Starmail - 17. Feb, 00:01
