B.C. allowed logging in caribou habitat despite its own ministry’s recommendation

By Wolfgang Depner Mike James doesn’t know yet whether his first grandchild will be a boy or girl, but he hopes they will have a chance to see threatened southern mountain caribou during a future visit to his family’s cabin near Quesnel Lake. The snowshoe-like hoofs of southern mountain caribou, also called deep snow caribou, allow them to feed on lichens that grow in high-altitude parts of old-growth forest. The habitat range of the caribou lies mainly in eastern B.C. stretching from the north-central regions of the province southwards, with some pockets in western B.C. and along the U.S. border. But decades of logging have destroyed their habitat, reducing their overall numbers to fewer than 1,400 spread across 18 herds, according to government figures from 2023. There are said to…

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