BC Conservation Officer Service
Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program (AMCEP) September Report
Compiled by Conservation Officer Patricia Burley September 1-30, 2012
East Flathead – view of Middle Kootenay Pass from the AB/BC boarder Sept 12/12
Introduction
The September Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program (AMCEP) Report is the fifth report for the 6 month period completed by Conservation Officer Burley. The following information is some highlights from the previous months work. CO Burley’s conducted her AMA Project in the Upper and East Flathead, Upper Wigwam, Wigwam Flats, Upper Elk Valley, Grave Prairie, Chauncey/Todhunter and Alexander Creek AMA‘s on August 31-September 2. New seasonal road closures and the bow hunting season took effect during these dates. Three Conservation Officers and three BC Park Rangers took part in the weekend’s project. The patrols were all conducted by foot, ATV and truck. A trail cam and special video surveillance was utilized in this project. The video surveillance equipment takes footage from ground vibration and above ground movement. The following is a breakdown of the contacts made during the project. August 31 – East Flathead and Alexander Creek AMA patrolled. 3 hunters checked and 2 others Total – 5 checked September 1 - Upper Elk Valley/Fording, Chauncey/Todhunter, Grave Prairie and East Flathead AMA’s patrolled. 9 - 4X4, 10 - anglers, 29 - hunters and 4 - others Total – 52 checked 1 -196/99 sec 2 charge (AMA) 1 -96/99 sec 2 warning (AMA) 1 -LCA sec 44 warning Total – 3 tickets September 2 – Alexander Creek - ATV, East Flathead, Upper Wigwam, and Wigwam Flats AMA’s patrolled. 24 - 4X4, 17 - anglers, 10 - hunters and 4 - others Total – 55 1-FSRR 70/2004 warning ticket TOTAL people checked: 112 4 Tickets issued.
Figure 1: Alexander AMA – Crown Mountain Trail September long weekend.
Most (90%) ATV’s checked were non residents of BC, most anglers were residents and all hunters were residents. CO Connatty and Sgt Caravetta caught a side by side ATV on the top of Middle Pass which is in the East Flathead AMA closure. They were from AB which means they went through their AB Castle Closure and into the BC Closure. The video surveillance was utilized in Deadman’s Pass (Alexander Creek AMA) from Aug 31-September 5. There were approximately 1500 triggers, most of which were from the wind, but so far the COS is aware of 7 separate ATV’s that were in the closure caught on camera, a couple of which were hunters. Final pictures and videos will be passed onto CO Burley in the next couple weeks from the Surveillance Specialist. It is now known that if a CO sees fit to seize an ATV in a closure that is too remote to pick up by truck, the COS can have a helicopter fly in to sling it out. It was nice to have BC Parks by the COS’s side making contact with people and getting the AMA information out. AMA Magazines were given out to recreationist during all checks.
Figure 2: AB resident’s recreating in the Alexander AMA Sept Long Weekend.
Figure 3: Recreationists in the Alexander AMA.
CO Burley patrolled the Alberta Castle Mountain Non Motorized Closure with the Alberta SRD Access Guardian Aaron Daviduke on September 12th. It was an opportunity to have a greater partnership with the neighbouring agencies on the same non compliance issues. CO Burley and Daviduke patrolled by ATV from the Castle Mountain Staging area through the Castle Special Management Area designated summer trails to the Middle Kootenay Pass Summit in the East Flathead AMA. A group of 15 hikers from a high school group were checked hiking out of the East Flathead where they had camped for a night at a remote lake. A new metal post and AMA sign was constructed at the Summit for AB residents to see while they are in non compliance in
the Alberta closed road. 3 ATV berry pickers were checked at the AB closed gate where they were hiking into the summit for huckel berries. The road past the gate has been heavily abused, where people continue into BC to the East Flathead Middle Pass road closure. While in Alberta, CO Burley drove to Pincher Creek where she dropped off a BC AMA file for Fish and Wildlife Officers to investigate for AB residents that were caught on Middle Pass on the September Long weekend that drove through the Castle Mountain closed road. This was a goal of Burley’s to have an interprovincial relationship built between the COS, AB SRD and AB Fish and Wildlife. CO Burley and AB Guardian Daviduke will continue to brainstormed ideas with each other to see what works and what does not work when trying to gain voluntarily compliance from the motorized recreationists.
Figure 4: CO Burley on an ATV Patrol to the East Flathead from AB.
Figure 5: CO Burley and AB SRD Access Guardian Daviduke at the Castle Mountain Staging Area.
Figure 6: AB/BC Boarder of Middle Pass, new post and sign constructed.
CO Burley was selected to take part in the Evolution of Policing ‘Celebrating 100 years of Women in Policing’ in Richmond, BC on September 24-26thas a representative for the Conservation Officer Service. The Vancouver Police Department took leadership in organising the celebration event after a group of Vancouver police women attended a “Women Policing” conference in Ottawa in 2009. There were approximately 200 women that took part in the conference from across Canada and the western United States. Some of the agencies that took part were the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, RCMP from across Canada, Chilliwack Police, Vancouver State Police and the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). The VPD assembled a diverse list of speakers and topics that lead the participants through the “Evolution of Policing”. The VPD was the first police agency in Canada to hire women in 1912; two women were hired. VPD was the 3rd Agency in the world to hire women. Their officer duties were different then, but changed in time to be more equal, 1957 they had wage parity with their male colleagues. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) hired their first female in 1972 and the RCMP followed hiring their first female officer in 1974. Even at that time female officers had to wear a skirt and carry their gun in their purse. The Conservation Officer Service hired their first female CO in 1983, who is currently an Inspector with the Interior Region. Some of the speakers that were highlighted were Retired Anne Drennan from the RCMP who explained her life story how she evolved into policing and the struggles she went through as the first prominent media spokeswomen for a policing agency in Canada. Deputy Chief Anthony Christiana, Jr from the Gretna Police Department in the State of Louisiana told his emotional and personal experiences that his agency went through during Hurricane Katrina. Deputy Lisa Mcvey with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office told her sad history of her adolescents where she was abducted and abused by a serial killer that she escaped from and help eventually catch which lead her to where she is today. The conference was educational for CO Burley who also took the opportunity to meet and explain to other enforcement agencies the priorities and diversity that the Conservation Officer Service protects and enforces.
Figure 7: Evolution of Policing 2012 in Vancouver, BC. With the hunting season in full swing, more RAPP complaints are coming into the call centre regarding vehicles driving in AMA closed roads. CO Burley has responded to a number of reports where she patrols the most abused areas. Chauncey/Todhunter, Corbin and Grave Prairie seem to be the busiest for complaints. AMA signs and gates have been check to make sure they are up and locked. Too many signs are still going missing and a couple locks have been cut where truck or quad tracks are visible going into the closures. Early morning patrols are being conducted. During night patrols two Officers need to work together for safety purposes, which is sometimes hard to do. CO Burley and another CO plan to conduct some night patrols in the AMA within the most non compliance areas. Too many hunters believe that there is nothing wrong with killing animals in an AMA and then driving into the closed road to pick it up. This is a misconception that CO Burley plans on clarifying by putting the information in the newspaper. While CO Burley has been proactively patrolling, she has come across a number of fish and wildlife violations that she has been able to deal with at the sites. Paper work is always associated with the outcomes, but the new lap tops are now in the vehicles which will help with limiting the office time. CO Burley continues to receive educational AMA questions from public in person or by phone. The COS has been receiving a high number of complaints with shot and left illegal sized bull elk. CO Burley has a weekly column in the Fernie Free Press on legality and regulation during the hunting season “Tips from the Conservation Officers”. One of the first articles was written on what to do with accidentally illegal sized animals. People need to be aware of the options they have, not to waste an animal. The salvation army in Fernie, Sparwood and Elkford have all received wildlife meat that has either been seized from hunters or found and harvested in time. Most animals are left to waste in the bush, many never to be found. People are reminded to pass on information on suspicious people in the area that could have contributed to the violation.
Statistics
Figure 8: Current Summary of total time spent in the field up to October 14, 12.
Figure 9: Current Summary of statistics up to October 14, 12. The filtered numbers are for the month of September.
Figure 10: Current Summary of total outreach provided to the public up to October 14, 12.
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.
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.
Other Work Projects From September 14-17, CO Burley, CO Connatty from Cranbrook, CO Ashworth from Williams Lake, Sergeant Caravetta, Inspector Canuel from Cranbrook and Chief Superintendent Farynuk from Victoria patrolled the East and Upper Flathead, Upper Wigwam and Wigwam Flats AMA’s by truck and ATV (6 uniformed officers). This was a coordinated project to cover as much ground as possible in those days to check hunting camps and patrol within the AMA’s. On Sept 15-16, four officers put approximately 306 KM’s each on their ATV’s; the East and Upper Flathead was patrolled during this time. Every vehicle was checked that the officers came across. A total of 84 contacts were made, most of which were hunters. 7 tickets were handed out between the 15th and 16th. Trappers and Guide Outfitters were also checked during their patrols. A road block was conducted at the Flathead FSR and Cabin FSR intersection. People were surprised to see that many CO’s patrolling in one area. The project was a good opportunity to get the management staff back in the field to work with the field officers, conduct compliance checks again and to view some beautiful areas within the East Kootenay’s. The public that was checked were happy to see the enforcement presence.
Figure 11: Sgt Caravetta, Inp Canuel and Sup Farynuk in the Flathead with the famous Bernis Ende, who had been riding her horse since April.
Cranbrook Conservation Officer Jeff Scott organised a project in the Upper Elk Valley AMA for September 29-30, 12.
CO Scott and CO Garay completed a 2 day, 1 night patrol with an unmarked patrol truck. This was an effective method, and arriving at the cabin late allowed for checks of several hunters returning to camp at dusk. No violations were found, however numerous contacts were made with a wide variety of resources users. In future years, a similar scale project would be sufficient, perhaps during the moose season. Contacts were as follows; Hunters 13 Outfitter 1 Anglers 7 Guides 2 Other 4 Wranglers 2 Trapper 1 Compliance was 100% as no violations found. Even though most PWOR’s that the CO work on or receive are not always happy endings but a positive PWOR came to CO Burley on September 23 at 0650, on time off, from a trapper regarding an injured Golden Eagle. CO Burley was called by satellite phone from a remote area where an Outfitter found an injured Golden Eagle, named Pete. The eagle could not move or fly, so he packed it out to his camp by horse where he got hold of a trapper. The trapper then called the CO to ask what he should do with it. It should be noted that the general public can not be in possession of live wildlife without a permit or permission from a CO. CO Burley told him that he could bring it to her in Fernie where she would then take it to the raptor rehab centre in Vancouver (O.W.L) that same day since she had to fly there for a conference. The eagle was taken on the flight from Cranbrook to Vancouver with her. She had funny reactions from people when they looked in the crate thinking they would see a cat, but instead a large yellow beak and big black beady eyes. The eagle made the trip to Vancouver, but barely. Once at the rehab centre it was examined. Pete had both a broken fibula and tibia and was severely under weight for a male raptor. The vets have done surgery on Pete’s leg where he will be remaining at the centre until he makes a full recovery. The AMA Magazine’s have been very useful for hunters during the 2012 hunting season. CO Burley has check numerous hunters that have already been using the magazine while out hunting and ask her questions on the roads while on site. The tourism, city centres and gas stations have been checked to make sure their supply is sufficient during the hunting season. A brochure is to be made by CO Burley and sent to TECK and Canfor employees so they know what to report when they come across a fish, wildlife or environmental violation. A media release is also forecasted to pass information along to the public on where the high noncompliance areas are within the AMA’s.
Summary CO Burley’s time was also spent following up with Problem Wildlife Occurrence Reports (PWOR) when other CO’s were not available. Fernie and Elkford continued to have issues with problem
bears in town. CO Burley used a number of deterrence tools such as rubber bullets to try and have the bears move away from town. It is a time commitment to set, clean and move the bear traps or snare sets to and from the sites when the other CO’s are not available. Garage and apples trees continue to be the main attractant that the bears get into. Officer time is taken up in the office to deal with any PWORs, tickets, project report write up or non compliance investigations. 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 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.
Figure 12: Upper Flathead McLachie Summit.
Figure 13: Beautiful Flathead.
If you have any questions or concerns about the September AMA Report or questions for CO Burley, she can be contacted at: RAPP 1-877-952-7277 Desk 250-423-4264 Cell 250-423-1888 [email protected] 1621A 10th Avenue P.OBox 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 2012 Stats for more detail of the Access Guardian’s patrols and outreach efforts from December 2011 to October 2012.
Maps To reduce document size, AMA maps have not been included in this report. If required maps of individual AMAs are available from two sources, the Ministry of environment website (www.env.gov.bc.ca/kootenay/eco/accessmaps.htm) and the Hunting Regulations Synopsis. The hunting synopsis is available in print and online (www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlife/hunting/regulations/). The maps available from the MOE website are in colour and contain much greater detail.
