B.C. conservation officers patrolled Okanagan caribou closures over the weekend and found evidence that there may have been some prohibited travel in the area.
“Evidence of people snowmobiling within the closures as well as caribou tracks were observed,” the conservation office announced through its social media.
The conservation office didn’t specify exactly where the tracks were found, though the areas where motorized travel is prohibited are sizable.
Since 2009, the government has closed areas to snowmobile use across the mountain caribou range in order to support population recovery.
The herds found in its mountainous mature forests are an important part of the natural ecosystem and the biodiversity of B.C. According to provincial figures, significant changes within the caribou’s preferred habitat over the last century have seen their population decline from 40,000 to about 15,000 provincewide.
Efforts to protect the species have not been without controversy.
Concerns from outdoor recreationalists and the forestry industry have been heard along the way.
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