Wildlife

A study on Quadra Island indicates wildlife survives group selection logging, but retention of second-growth trees is recommended.

by Tanya Storr

Small clearcut and pushover logging patch cuts in the Morte Lake area of Quadra Island, in northern Georgia Strait, were the subject of a recent study which looked at the effects of group selection logging on wildlife. The study took place over the past five-and-a-half years, and wildlife populations were sampled for two years prior to logging and one year after logging.

Friends of our herons can now "invest in a nest."

by Judi Stevenson

Most of the 60 species of the heron family found around the world evolved to live in tropical wetlands. Even the great blue herons that nest east of the Rockies fly south to find the sun in winter. Our friends, the coastal subspecies Ardea herodias fannini, are unique.

Has the web of life been broken, beyond any hope of repair?

by Maggie Paquet ©

Back in autumn 1999, newspapers and at least one national magazine carried an article by Tom Reimchen of the University of Victoria Biology Department on the links between bears, salmon, and forests in the coastal ecosystems of British Columbia.

Japanese discover the whales and dolphins are too contaminated to serve as sushi.

by Delores Broten

In a bitter twist of fate, the Japanese may indeed have been contributing to scientific research as they devoured illegal whale meat. For over 20 years, despite the International Whaling Commission, Japan has claimed to be doing scientific research as it harvested minke whales for food.

In November, the number of species at risk in Canada was raised by seven, following a meeting of COSEWIC, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. The number of Species at Risk in Canada now stands at 387. Among the species re-evaluated, the Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, tops the list.

The Canadian Bison Association lists 1,250 buffalo ranches operating in Canada. In the late 1990s, commercial production was expected to grow 25 percent a year until 2005. Experts predict as many as 700,000 animals will be processed 10 years from now. Some agribusiness analysts predict buffalo will displace cattle in North America.

by Don Malcolm

Forty kilometres north of the busy Trans Canada Highway at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Buffalo Pound Provincial Park offers an enchanting relief from the noisy, aggressive traffic beating its way east and west on Canada's main road. Within the park the Qu'Appelle River pursues its centuries old task of cutting a deep wide valley through the prairie flat lands.

The Canadian Bison Association lists 1,250 buffalo ranches operating in Canada. In the late 1990s, commercial production was expected to grow 25 percent a year until 2005. Experts predict as many as 700,000 animals will be processed 10 years from now. Some agribusiness analysts predict buffalo will displace cattle in North America.

by Don Malcolm

Forty kilometres north of the busy Trans Canada Highway at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Buffalo Pound Provincial Park offers an enchanting relief from the noisy, aggressive traffic beating its way east and west on Canada's main road. Within the park the Qu'Appelle River pursues its centuries old task of cutting a deep wide valley through the prairie flat lands.

Where once a thousand spotted owls ruled the night in southwest BC, now slightly more than a dozen hang on while logging rips their remaining old growth forest habitat to shreds. Our goal is to shame BC’s Minister in charge of endangered species, Pat Bell, into ordering a halt to the logging.

by Joe Foy

I write this Wild Times column whilst stationed in a Wilderness Committee research camp which is lo­cated

BC’s expanding network of highways and motorized wilderness access a major threat to bear travels routes, but a new threat bearing down on BC’s embattled grizzlies - private power projects.

by Joe Foy