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funding cut

Whistler’s proactive steps toward managing its own bear problems has made it easier for the province to cut funding for one conservation officer position in the corridor.

Whistler’s proactive steps toward managing its own bear problems has made it easier for the province to cut funding for one conservation officer position in the corridor.

And, now that there is funding for only two positions, it is highly unlikely Whistler will see a conservation officer stationed in the valley, as recently requested by the municipality.

The area from Lions Bay in the south through Whistler and Pemberton to the top of the Hurley River Pass in the north-west, and to the top of the Duffey Lake Road in the north-east, has traditionally been staffed by three conservation officers. The Ministry of Environment, however, recently moved funding — about $60,000-$70,000 for one conservation officer position — to their investigations unit in Surrey.

The ministry’s regional enforcement manager for the Lower Mainland Region, Bruce Cox, said he is only trying to make the best of a bad situation. “I am just trying to use my staff in the best way I can.”

Cox said the CO position based out of Squamish will not be removed from the organizational chart.

“I will maintain that position as an unfunded vacancy. We will see how things go with two officers there and hopefully, although this is very, very uncertain at this point, in time additional funding might be made available and we could look to refunding that position in Squamish and going back to a three-person district.”

Cox explained the investigation unit in Surrey is also a three-person section currently being manned by two. “The workload is very, very high in investigations and we are having trouble keeping up. We just seem to keep falling behind.”

He said the Sea to Sky area has proved it can manage with only two officers, which has been the case for almost a year now since Dave Elliot, the district supervisor, has been on medical leave. Elliot is back at work now and when Dan LeGrandeur was successful in obtaining a lateral transfer to Merrit two months ago, Cox took the opportunity to axe the funding for LeGrandeur’s post. LeGrandeur had been acting as district supervisor in Elliot’s absence.

The area’s other CO, Steve Jacobi, will also be transferred in a couple of months. Jacobi is relocating to Chilliwack and will be replaced by Sechelt’s Chris Doyle.

Cox said wildlife complaints consume a large chunk of the conservation officers’ time in the warmer months, leaving them little opportunity for other environmental enforcement work. “One of the advantages we have in the Squamish district is we have this co-operative working agreement with the Whistler RCMP, the bylaws and the Whistler municipality. They do the bulk of the work now in terms of dealing with problem bears. They don’t destroy the bears but will set traps and they do aversive conditions by shooting with rubber bullets to try and deter the bears coming into town,” said Cox. “Because they handle that aspect, that additional effort from Whistler has freed up a bit of time and allows the district, you could say, to function with reduced staffing.”

Cox said Whistler has written to the ministry to request a conservation officer be stationed in the community because of the high number of bear complaints in the area but he said it probably won’t happen now.

“The likelihood isn’t very great, particularly now that we have made this move to try two officers there. It’s not a good idea to split the officers up and have them in two different offices in terms of covering for one another, administrative support and being able to liaise on a regular basis. It makes a lot more sense to do that out of one office.”

Cox said it could be argued that a Pemberton office would be more central to the district but he said the current plan is to close the Squamish conservation office and move the CO’s into shared office space with the Ministry of Forests in Squamish come February. He said the move makes budgetary sense.

The two conservation officers for the corridor are also charged with patrolling the backcountry in an effort to clamp down on “illegal” commercial recreation but Cox said funding for that duty comes from the B.C. Assets and Lands Corporation. He said several auxiliary officers may be hired to help out with that task on a seasonal basis due to the growth of commercial recreation in the Sea to Sky area.

“It’s a very good program from our perspective. We are reimbursed for time spent on that activity and it has allowed us to acquire equipment like snowmobiles and ATVs we normally wouldn’t have the budget for.”

Cox said, in the process of using that new equipment to patrol the backcountry, COs can keep an eye out for other enforcement issues as part of the normal duty and access areas they may otherwise be unable to access.

Elliot said he and Doyle will continue with the bear aversion work spearheaded by LeGrandeur and Jacobi. He said the funding cut is unfortunate. “We will do the best we can. We are certainly hoping the government will find money to reinstate that position but there is just no money at this time.”

Elliot said he will keep lobbying for a third officer. “I will certainly make aware to my supervisors the heavy workload we have here.”

While Whistler’s bear management efforts may have cost the corridor a conservation officer, the province is at the same time lauding the Whistler initiative. A news release sent out province-wide last week hailed the community’s innovate methods of non-lethal bear control as a means of reducing bear-human conflict and reducing the number of bears killed.