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1 BC Conservation Officer Service Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program (AMCEP) August Report Compiled by Conservation Officer Patricia Burley August 31, 2017 Upper Flathead AMA – Lodgepole Fire
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Page 1: BC Conservation Officer Service Access Management ... Guardian Report - A… · The Conservation Officer Service is happy to announce that the Access Management Compliance and Enforcement

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BC Conservation Officer Service

Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program (AMCEP) August Report Compiled by Conservation Officer Patricia Burley August 31, 2017

Upper Flathead AMA – Lodgepole Fire

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Introduction

The Conservation Officer Service is happy to announce that the Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program (AMCEP) was renewed for another 5 years effective May 2017. The AMCEP was initiated in 2009. Since 2009 the AMCEP has focused primarily on the Access Management Areas (AMA’s) within the Regional District of East Kootenay’s (RDEK)Electoral Area A from May 15 to November 15. Currently the AMCEP joint partnership, with the Conservation Officer Service, is the only position of its kind in British Columbia. The Elk Valley alone has 14 Access Management Areas, BC Recreation Sites and Trails permitted non-motorized trails and a number of Motor Vehicles for Hunting Closed Areas (formally known as VAHCs). Thank you to the RDEK, Columbia Basin Trust, other stakeholder groups and the Communities of Fernie, Sparwood and Elkford for supporting this valued program and contributing to its success. Monthly reports are completed by CO Burley, who has been the CO Access Guardian since 2012. The August AMCEP Report is the third report for the 6 month period for 2017 prepared by Conservation Officer (CO) Burley. On August 1st and 2nd COS Inspector Caravetta and Biologist Allana Oestreich conducted a patrol of the lower Flathead Valley. Allana has replaced retired Biologist Doug Martin as the regional ecosystems biologist. Both Allana and Inspector Caravetta completed the following patrol while in the East Flathead AMA. August 1:

• Patrolled the proctor lake road and checked out allocation where one closed spur road could be opened to simply the closure for the public. One closure sign was put up at this location.

• Patrolled the upper Nettie Creek road and put one closure sign on the spur road that heads west off the open road. Compliance on this spur road appeared to be good, however most non-compliance on this road comes in the fall during hunting season.

• Patrolled the lower Nettie Creek road and put up one sign at the end of the open road where an older road leads along the old cut block and then drops down to Sage creek. This spur road is being used to access the creek but once at the creek atv’s/side by sides are working their way along the riparian habitat of the creek. Motorized trails have been cut out along the creek side.

• The gate on the loop road of the Kishinena FSR was closed and no sign of activity in that area. This gate needs a lock.

• Checked out the gates on elder creek – all three need locks and two had new AMA closure signs put up.

• Two new logging development roads were checked out on the south side of the Kishinena FSR; one of which went to the USA/Canada border.

• Patrolled the lower starvation creek closure that exits the Kishinena FSR road at 96 km. This road dead ends at the Kishinena Creek and was checked to see if opening this road could be approved.

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• Patrolled the remainder of the Kishinena FSR to the junction with Akamina FSR. The closure sign at the Beavertail Creek Bridge is still up; however a new sign was put at the Akamina FSR junction for both east and west directions off the main Kishinena FSR. Compliance on these two spur roads was good but again most non-compliance occurs in the fall hunting season.

August 2: • Patrolled the sage creek road closure area, put up two signs on Ruby Creek. The signs on

Roche creek and upper Sage were still in-place and compliance appeared to be good on these closures.

• Patrolled the airport road, checked out the new logging development- definitely a need for either road deactivation on this new road or a gate, other wised the other two spur roads were signed.

Due to extreme fire conditions, on Friday August 4th the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Wildfire Branch instituted an Off Road Vehicle (ORV) restriction order. The order was issued throughout all portions of crown land within the Rocky Mountain Forest District. The ORV restriction followed the campfire ban placed in July. Other activities that were part of the ban included the following: BC Wildfire Service Prohibition Order

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Figure 1: Galton Range AMA at sunset, Phillips Falls. The CO’s still were able to patrol AMA’s during their evening campfire/ORV patrols. Due to the crown land closers the overall AMA related complaints were significantly reduced throughout the month of August. This gave CO Burley some extra time to focus on other AMA work (OAG, investigations, education/outreach) as well as deal with problem wildlife issues while other CO’s were on vacation. The CO’s in the Elk Valley have dealt with problem grizzly bears in Elkford, cougars at Island Lake Lodge, Mt. Fernie Provincial Park, cougar north of Sparwood and black bears in Rosen Lake area. The CO’s in the East Kootenay Zone continue to work evening shifts on top of their regular shifts to respond to campfire and ORV complaints. A total of 6 violation tickets have been issued to the public by CO’s in the Zone since July for illegal campfires, cigarettes out windows and sparkler use.

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Figure 2: Smokey evening over Tie Lake on a CO Campfire/ORV ban patrol Throughout early August a number of complaints regarding the Chauncey Todhunter AMA, northeast of the Elkford area were forwarded to CO Burley. A portion of the complaints involved campsites (over staying 2 weeks) at Ewin Creek. Ewin Creek is legally on private land, owned by Teck. Teck is responsible for the management of these areas including trespass related issues. CO Burley forwarded the trespass related information onto Teck. The campsite is also within the AMA, but is a traditional campsite that is allowed. Four dirt bikers were caught on a trail camera by a member of the public who were on a non-motorized trail called the Beehive. This area is steep and shalley with sensitive habitat that wildlife relies on. These dirt bikers not only were contravening the Wildlife Act, but wrecked the trail for hikers and horses to go on. CO Burley asked the District of Elkford to post the photos on their Facebook page, which they did, asking for the public’s help to identify the suspects. An education paragraph was added to the post explaining the AMA. The file remains unsolved.

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Figure 3: CO Deboon posting AMA signs at the end of the Todhunter Road in the Chauncey Todhunter AMA. While the phones were calmer with the ORV ban CO Burley focused on files she had from July with trucks captured on a trail camera from July in Wigwam Flats AMA. A total of 10 vehicles were captured but only 5 of those vehicles had readable plate numbers. Two of the suspects admitted to being on the closed road unaware of the regulations and the area. CO Burley provided education, the Outdoor Access Guide and warning tickets. The other three investigations have yet to be concluded.

Figure 4: AMA sign that vehicles drove by in Wigwam Flats AMA in the closed section and were caught on a trail camera.

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On August 23 CO Burley and CO Gordon patrolled Wigwam Flats AMA and checked anglers along the river. The area of Wigwam Flats and the Ram Creek Road is Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) private land. NCC had posted their land as no public access (by foot or vehicle), so the CO’s were also evicting the public from their land. CO Burley even intersected two adults with e-bikes that were about to go within the AMA/private land. They were about to use a motorized vehicle in a non-motorized area with a public access restriction for the fire season. CO Gordon brought the drone equipment on their patrol. He is one of 5 CO drone operators in the Provincial which makes it very convenient for the local Elk Valley CO’s to utilize the high tech tool. They were able to practice with the drone and CO Burley was able to see how practical the drone could be to help her with her AMA complaints. They will try to use the drone for the fall hunting season or the 2018 AMA patrols.

Figure 5: Conservation Officer Service Drone

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Figure 6: CO Gordon operating the drone.

Figure 7: Drone in Wigwam Flats AMA.

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The CO’s still conducted their normal angler patrols within AMAs such as the Wigwam, Alexander, Flathead, Elk Rivers and Michel Creek. A high number of barbed hooks, illegal gear and bait are still being used on these rivers. There seems to be compliance with the quota system on the Wigwam River and Michel Creek.

Figure 8: Anglers checked by CO Burley on the Upper Wigwam River.

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Figure 9: Wigwam Flats AMA. CO Burley was able to work with the Wildlife Branch, BC Recreation Sites and Trails, Ministry GIS personnel and the Fernie Free Press to complete the 2017 Outdoor Access Guide. She was able to get $2000 of funding to have 1500 copies that would be printed before the hunting season. The OAG had the zone map updated with a new look and easier to read while the new amended AMA maps were added in as well as the Frying Pan Rec Trail Map. The 2018 OAG issue will be much more detailed and will included the trench AMA’s around the Cranbrook area.

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Figure 10: New 2017 Outdoor Access Guide CO Burley failed to mention in her earlier AMCEP Reports that a group of dedicated conservationist helped create an illegal developed ATV trail on crown land become a non-motorized hiking trail north of Elkford, just south of the Upper Elk Valley AMA. In early May 2017 Bill Hanlon, Sam Medcalf and Walter Conibear held a small work party and installed the trailhead sign to Frying Pan Creek. They plan to restore the original trail to a single path again and maintain the horse/hiking trail to the base of Mount Peck. Below are a couple pictures of their completed hard work.

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Figure 11: Sam Medcalf, Bill Hanlon and Walter Conibear standing at the Frying Pan Creek Trailhead.

Figure 12: Frying Pan Creek Recreation Trail. Non-motorized.

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Statistics

Figure 13: Current Summary of total time spent in the field up to August 31, 2017.

Figure 14: Current Summary of statistics up to August 31, 2017. The filtered numbers are for the month of August.

Figure 15: Current Summary of total outreach provided to the public up to August 31, 2017. It should be noted that Officer Presence is calculated as the time Officer(s) were physically present in an AMA, it does not account for travel.

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People that are educated are defined as COS discussing specific AMA facts and requirements for which the person in question was previously unaware. It should be noted that the Access Guardian Program and general AMA facts are discussed with more than 80% of contacts.

Figure 16: Total summary from the AMCEP 2011-2015, from the first completed 5 year contract. Summary AMA RAPP calls continue to be reported to CO Burley and the other CO’s. The bear issues within the valley have not been a concern up to this point, but that might change once the berry crop dries up early this fall. The East Kootenay CO’s have been patrolling for camp fires since the camp fire ban and ORV ban came into effect July 7th and August 4th. The Province of British Columbia has been in a State of Emergency for almost two months because of the extreme fire hazard. The CO’s have been patrolling around Lake Koocanusa and responding to calls from the public for campfires; the propane fires are legal but the flame has to be less than 15cm’s in length. The Cranbrook CO’s will be assisting with patrols within the Electoral Area A AMA’s when time permits. CO Burley’s time was also spent following up with Human Wildlife Occurrence Reports (HWOR) when other CO’s were not available. Officer time is taken up in the office to deal with any HWORs, tickets, project reports or non-compliance investigations (photocopying, scanning ect). All CO’s time has been added to the 2017 Excel spreadsheet when working on investigations, the Outdoor Access Guide, AMA Reports and field time. The people in the East Kootenay’s have such a great opportunity to explore the beauty of the Rockies which provides a variety of recreational experiences. CO Burley is enjoying making

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contact with all these user groups and will continue to build a better understanding to the public of the laws and regulations that are built around them. If you have any questions or concerns about the August AMA Report or questions for CO Burley, she can be contacted at: RAPP 1-877-952-7277 Desk 250-423-4264 [email protected] 1621A 10th Avenue P.O Box 2877, Fernie, BC, V0B1M0 The Conservation Officer Service is a public safety provider focussed on natural resource law enforcement and human wildlife conflicts prevention and response. Our Vision: To be a progressive and respected leader in environmental compliance and enforcement, shared stewardship and public safety. The Conservation Officer Service Motto is: Integrity, Service and Protection Please see the attached Excel 2017 Stats for more detail of the Access Guardian’s patrols and outreach efforts from March to August 31, 2017. Maps To reduce document size, AMA maps have not been included in this report. If required maps of individual AMAs are available on the Ministry of Environment website (www.env.gov.bc.ca/kootenay/eco/accessmaps.htm). The maps available from the MOE website are in colour and contain much greater detail. The 2011-2017 monthly AMCEP reports and yearly summaries are now available online for the public to read. They can been view on the following website: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/kootenay/eco/accessmaps.htm


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