As the warmer months approach, bears and human settlements with inevitably come into contact. With yet another rejection from B.C the. Ministry of Environment to Revelstoke’s plea to reinstate a location conservation officer (CO), Revelstoke Bear Aware Society has promised it will continue lobbying the province, as will city council.
“It really gets down to one issue, they don’t feel that Revelstoke is making enough calls to the conservation officer to warrant having an officer,” Mayor Mark McKee said.
“We’re (now) dealing our own problems rather than calling a conservation officer that may not be able to arrive in a timely manner.
“I have been talking with the provincial government and don’t plan on stopping.”
The previous Revelstoke CO position was relocated to Golden in December 2013 after that CO retired. 2014 was a particularly active year for bears and the local Bear Aware destroyed ten bears and relocated two.
“Last year was an exceptionally high year,” Bear Aware coordinator Sue Davies said.
“There were more instances of property damage and bear aggression than on a typical year.”
The organization attributes the unusual increase to a combination of factors including less berries at lower elevations and abundant cherries in town, luring bears in search of a feed.
“Seeing bears in town was a very regular sight in Revelstoke last year,” Davies said.
Read Bear Aware’s full annual report here.
Our original story from Feb. 6
The B.C. Ministry of Environment has once again refused a City of Revelstoke request to reinstate a local conservation officer (CO) despite some high profile bear events last year.
The locally based position was relocated to Golden in December 2013 after the previous Revelstoke-based conservation officer retired. It was a move that made the previous Mayor David Raven reportedly upset, particularly as there was an incident that month where the RCMP shot a black bear. He made numerous requests to the government to reverse the decision, including a letter in April and October of 2014.
The latest response is in reply to his second letter and the minister for environment, Mary Polak, states that at this time, there will be no change.
“A review of the deployment of officers in the Columbia-Kootenay Zone found moving the Conservation Officer (CO) position from Revelstoke to Golden would provide the best level of service to the entire zone,” states the letter dated Jan. 20.
“The Conservation Officer Service (COS) will continue to provide the highest level of public safety and natural resource law enforcement service possible in the community. The COS is a highly mobile service. As with most communities throughout the province, COs in the Columbia-Kootenay Zone are managed, using a zone concept where officers respond to complaints and concerns anywhere in the zone.”
Revelstoke’s Bear Aware 2014 annual report cites 302 reports of black bears in Revelstoke and three reports of grizzlies, compared to less than 50 sightings in 2013.
The report states 18 bears tried to enter buildings and there were eight reports of bears acting aggressively.
Bear incidents vary greatly by year, often driven by food availability in the wild.
The relocation of the Revelstoke conservation officer position also drew criticism from the Revelstoke Rod & Gun Club, who expressed concern that the relocation would lead to increased poaching and wildlife infractions in the area. They advocated for residents to report wildlife incidents because ministry staffing decisions are based in part on the number of wildlife complaints received.
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