Kootenay Big Game Symposium Presentation Summaries

This is a summary of the Symposium speakers and the key elements of their talks.

Worth while circulating to all and sundry.

The Habitat Conservation Fund material is a bit off base. Joe Hall wasn't in the room, Ray wasn't present either.

A presentation was delivered to Premier Bill Bennett [jr] and his entire Cabinet at the Inn of The South in Cranbrook in May of 1979, headed up by Carmen Purdy, Mario Rocca, Dave [Moke] Melenka, Ron Skiber and Barney Caufield Sr. . The meeting was to be twenty minutes and lasted two hours, the suggestion to place a habitat fee on our hunting, guiding, fishing, trapping licences the topic - to be collected by government and provided to the user groups for critters that pay their way. ie. hunted, trapped or fished. The then Minister of Agriculture, James Hewitt was the main reason for it moving forward fro this meeting, and later many others in the Social Credit Cabinet supported the initiative . At one point we almost had the government convinced to put these collected funds [our money, a volunteer tax] into the hands of the BC Conservation Foundation. Graham Kenyon the president at the time. Vanderzalm killed this initiative. The NDP basically killed the fund, $178,000,000 dollars later provided by hunters, fisherfolk and guides--- We now have less game, fish and fur than when we started. We need an audit of the fund, how the fund has been squandered on non-game species over time. We should still insist that it be turned over to a Game Commission represented by hunters, guides, trappers and fisherman, money being spent on improving fish and game numbers only....or acquiring specific habitat.

Life is good, have a good day , kill a predator.

Cranbrook Mayor, Lee Pratt, welcomed 550 hunters to the Big Game Management Symposium at the Key City Auditorium in Cranbrook, BC on April 13, 2019. While, not a hunter himself, Mayor Pratt supports hunters and acknowledged that hunting has been a big economic driver in his community and in the East Kootenay in general.The organizer of the Symposium, Carmen Purdy, Founder and Chair, Kootenay Wildlife Heritage Fund opened the Symposium, explaining his long involvement with BC Nature Trust and the BC Wildlife Federation in order to benefit big game in the Kootenays. The work of these organizations has resulted in the enhancement of 32,000 acres and the 28,000 acres acquired for elk and deer and the other plants and animals on those properties. These efforts to support big game date back to 1979 with proposals from Joe Hall and Ray Demarchi to impose a tax of 10 cents on both per tonne of coal and per cubic meter of timber that did not succeed but led to a tax hunters and anglers for each licence and tag-licence which established the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund. Supplemental winter feeding of elk was conducted by the Wildlife Branch between 1974 and 1979 and then by Carmen using hay from a field at the Crestbrook Pulp Mill in response to a severe winter in 1980-81 when there was 40 inches of snow. This required a large voluntary effort by hunters similar to the efforts of the last few winters when more than a hundred hunters donated funds and time to feed elk throughout the East Kootenay Trench and the Elk Valley.

Symposium Compendium and Comments

Ken Sumanik was Regional Wildlife Biologist responsible for the entire northern half of the province between 1966 and 1974 when he was transferred to the Kootenay Region as Regional Habitat Protection Biologist and left government to go into private consulting in 1981. Mr. Sumanik provided a definition of habitat as a defined space where one can find a particular plant or animal. When you find yourself your chosen animal’s “habitat” the first question you might ask is “Where are they?” and seeing none the next question should be, “Why aren’t they here?” and the third question is, “What happened to them?” Mr. Sumanik, reflecting on the talks of the five feature speakers, reiterated that it is apparent that our big game populations are in dire straights. How is it that Norway is only 40% the size of BC yet where we harvest a few thousand each of moose and elk annually they currently harvest some 31,000 moose and 42,000 red deer plus an additional 33,000 roe deer and 41,000 roe deer? In regards to moose management, their logging practices create small clear cuts which provide much needed browse as well as residual cover. Heavy cropping of both sexes and a preponderance of calves in the moose harvest maintains a young age structure. However, it is worth noting that these spectacular numbers of animal produced each year have occurred during a long period when wolves existed at very low levels. Wolves are undergoing resurgence throughout Europe including Norway and Sweden. Issues that arise in BC include double standards when it comes to who can and who cannot hunt. Mr. Sumanik summed the symposium by saying that we need hands-on management if we are to recover our big game populations. Mr. Sumanik also stated his opinion that there should be the same laws for all residents of the province. Also that restrictions are being imposed by politicians who respond to what Mr. Sumanik referred to the badly misinformed urban public who have difficulty in comprehending what they do not understand and lobby to force their ill-advised philosophy of letting nature take its course. To quote Dr. Geist, “One should not expect wildlife to fend on its own, unassisted, in landscapes that are ecological caricatures, poor in habitats and filled with barriers, mortal dangers and harassments.” In other words, big game management requires hands-on management if it is to succeed as it has in the Scandinavian and several other European countries.

Kootenay Big Game Symposium Presentation Summaries #2

Raymond Demarchi, retired BC Chief of Wildlife Conservation, described the historic conditions of the East Kootenay prior to and during his 28-year tenure as the Kootenay Regional Wildlife Section Head. In his first year, in the winter of 1964-65, he counted and classified 9,000 big game animals in a region which for many years supported up to 25% of the provincial big game hunting. He stated that big game populations can fluctuate widely and that in the 1800’s and early 1900’s ungulate populations were very low, and then increased rapidly after severe wild fires of the 1920’s and 30’s. These fires were a result of unmanaged slash from extensive railway tie-logging and created temporary or seral shrub-grasslands which provided much needed winter forage for deer, elk and bighorn sheep. This plus the intensive predator control by the BC Game Commission that began after WWII led to a peak of abundance in both species of deer, elk and bighorn sheep. These once productive shrub-grasslands have become overgrown by conifer forest succession which has greatly reduced their usefulness as big game winter ranges. Demarchi suggested that protecting the safety of the public by increasing the moat between predators and the human population and decreasing the potential risk of fire damage to communities by using logging and fire to rehabilitate game ranges should be serious and immediate government priorities. He advised designating and managing specific high capability ungulate winter range areas as a priority over forestry. He advised finding common ground through coordinated planning with other organizations including forestry, livestock and recreational interests and also including farmers who might be induced to remove fences if there were successful programs such as the ones in Colorado to compensate for wildlife damage. While he stated that management of large carnivores had to be part of big game management, alienating the concerned public with predator bashing will only end in a stalemate and a catatonic response from government. In the meantime while increasing the quantity of big game animals through habitat management, focus should also be on quality of populations by ensuring their socio-biological well being by restoring near normal sex and age ratios.

Kootenay Big Game Symposium Presentation Summaries #3

Dr. Valerius Geist, Professor Emeritus, University of Calgary (retired), is a specialist on biology, behaviour and social dynamics of North American ungulates. Geist maintains that grizzly bears and wolves are very sensitive and intelligent animals that can sense when people are a threat to them and will move away readily if people are bold, as was true with bears when bears were hunted in 1959 when he began work as a student at Well Grey Provincial Park. However, he stated that in Banff and Lake Louise, grizzly bears have become less afraid of people because the ones they encounter are hikers and not carrying guns and thus are no threat to them. In the Spatsizi, he studied Stone’s sheep, moose and caribou where there were large gatherings of bulls. Recently there was a superpack of 43 wolves in that area and at the same time he observed that there is a dearth of wild ungulates. Thus Geist described this situation as a “predator pit” when an abundance of predators reduces the numbers of ungulates to 10 percent of the previous long term level. This he feels is the result of protectionism, something that the US National Park Service has admitted is causing a loss of biodiversity and an increase in invasive plant species. He urged the audience to visit the website “Wildergarden” to learn about bringing back biodiversity through management using fire and logging. In the Saxony of Germany where there is the greatest density of wolves in the country, wolves are increasing at the rate of 35% per year leading to severe problems with farmers and game managers and causing traffic fatalities. Historical information about wolves is being ignored. He urged a return to science, scholarship and the middle approach, avoiding extremism. Wolves on average each kill 16 to 22 elk per year in Yellowstone so there is now a deficit of elk. The hunter take of black-tailed deer on Vancouver Island for example has dropped from 25,000 per year [40 to 50] years ago when wolves were near extinction to 2,000 recently when wolves were plentiful. Anecdotal observations reveal that Roosevelt elk have reduced their vocalizations during the rut to avoid wolf predation. The Island’s deer populations are now concentrated on farms and urban areas where they seek security from both cougars and wolves. Geist predicted that the extinction of the wolf will be the result of protecting them as they interbreed with domestic dogs and become coywolves, a hybrid with dogs. Geist’s solution is to manage the land for biodiversity rather than protecting it in parks.

Kootenay Big Game Symposium Presentation Summaries #4

Dr. Vince “Doc Moose” Crichton of Manitoba stated that the big issue for moose management in Manitoba at the moment is the unregulated harvest and that there a need for regulations that will apply to all hunters. Wolves also can cause a major problem. The main mortality sources for moose are predation by wolves and bears, railroad deaths, excessive access associated with clear cutting, winter ticks, brain worm, and hunting (regulated and non-regulated). In open prairie areas, moose are increasing. In Saskatchewan here were once over 100,000 farms, now there are 30,000 or less and moose numbers have increased on these larger, continuous farms. Fires produce good habitat for moose as well in the forested areas of the province. In 1985 the moose harvest in Manitoba was worth $8 million supported by 8000 hunters . At present there are only 2,000 hunters due to the decline in moose numbers. On Duck Mountain, one of the best hunting areas, from 1993 to 2010 there was a 58% decrease in the number of moose (although 4 areas were not hit with declines). In Alaska, 20 to 25 bulls per 100 cows are adequate because the bulls have harems of females in the open habitats during the rut. In Boreal and Temperate forests, bulls do not gather harems and thus 60 to 65 bulls per 100 cows is a better fit since females are only in oestrus for 30 hours. Larger populations of moose are required to have sufficient numbers of older females that are more productive, having twins, and in the occasional case triplets. Because populations of less than 100-133 moose cannot recover easily, it would be best to close hunting in the many populations in Manitoba that average 100-133 moose but there is a lack of political will to do so. Crichton advised making conservation a way of life (not just talking about it) and using a team approach to develop a shared management plan, putting science before politics. His discussion points with government include protecting cows and calves, enacting conservation closures on small populations, offering outfitters two or three bear tags per guided hunter, giving free bear and wolf tags to licensed Manitoba resident hunters, offering monetary incentives for registered trappers, closure of hunting of moose by non-resident hunters and removing packs of timber wolves from selected areas plus, of course significantly reducing the unregulated harvest.

Kootenay Big Game Symposium Presentation Summaries #5

Dr. Charles E. Kay, PhD, Wildlife Ecology, spoke about the lies, myths and scientific fraud surrounding wildlife issues in North America. Unlike most ecologists, Dr. Kay has spent a great amount of time studying the archaeological records as well as the journals of early western North American explorers. This has led him to conclude that the impact of Indigenous populations on large predators and on ungulates was far more important than previously thought since the human population size may have been underestimated. (He stated that some researchers now estimate 100 million Indigenous people in the Americas). Dr. Kay stated that large predators can have significant effects on prey for example; cougar studies have estimated an average kill of 50 deer per year while bears in Alaska also consume a significant number of moose and caribou calves. According to Parks Canada data, wolves and other predators are having a large effect in places like the Bow Valley and Park Canada’s Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in Alberta where elk numbers declined from 3000 prior to wolf decolonization to only around 300 today. In Yellowstone, wolves were released at three locations after computer modeling predicted there would be no significant impact on ungulates. The actual results, however are that the Northern Yellowstone elk herd which at its peak numbered more than 19,000 elk declined to a low of 3,000 while moose numbers are down to zero. Prior to the release of wolves, 5000 elk wintered In the Gros Ventre valley south of YNP, 3000 on feed and 2000 free ranging. However, today all of those elk are gone. Kay maintains that wolves have not lead to the restoration of deciduous ecosystems in Yellowstone as claimed in a widely seen video by a British videographer. In fact those few small areas that have shown some recovery of shrubs and trees were all at high elevation but all of the low and mid elevation areas with existing photographic records are still in poor condition. Thus, Dr. Kay concludes, the return of the wolf to Yellowstone is not an immediate means of restoring ecosystems which may require 60 years or more to occur. Dr. Kay also discussed predator-mediated competition where the addition of alternative prey species allows the predator to take the most vulnerable prey to very low levels or even extirpation. He discussed examples of predator–mediated competition between mule deer, elk and mountain lions on Elk Ridge in southern Utah, and caribou, moose and wolves across southern Canada. 

Kootenay Big Game Symposium Presentation Summaries #6

Mr. Jim Beers, Biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (retired), outlined the problems that large predators are causing in many areas of the world including North America, Europe, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and India. Large predators chase, attack wound, kill and eat big game animals, cattle, sheep, dogs and even humans while also spreading infectious diseases. There is usually no documentation of how many occurrences of predator attacks and what was killed and thus there is confusion about the causes of declines of prey. Local communities could solve the problem of predation but far-away political entities in urban centres have become increasingly assertive about enforcing protection for predators. In settled landscapes, large predators will, when uncontrolled amongst abundant food sources, increase their densities until the total food supply dwindles as happened with wolves and moose on Isle Royale Island. Since the 1960’s, national governments both in the US and elsewhere have seized authority and jurisdiction over wildlife. With the support of scientists, wealthy supporters and the environmental/animal rights movement these issues have risen to the United Nations. Beers advised raising a fuss and putting pressure on government. Lobby the government to change the delegation of authority so that the responsibility for the management of big game in a local region is someone you can elect or remove at the next election. He also feels that revenue must be restored for conservation and not for non-game issues. Wildlife is an important natural resource, especially when local people can control wildlife and enhance its value for the local community.

Kootenay Big Game Symposium Presentation Summaries #7

Ken Sumanik

Symposium Compendium and Comments

Ken Sumanik was Regional Wildlife Biologist responsible for the entire northern half of the province between 1966 and 1974 when he was transferred to the Kootenay Region as Regional Habitat Protection Biologist and left government to go into private consulting in 1981. Mr. Sumanik provided a definition of habitat as a defined space where one can find a particular plant or animal. When you find yourself your chosen animal’s “habitat” the first question you might ask is “Where are they?” and seeing none the next question should be, “Why aren’t they here?” and the third question is, “What happened to them?” Mr. Sumanik, reflecting on the talks of the five feature speakers, reiterated that it is apparent that our big game populations are in dire straights. How is it that Norway is only 40% the size of BC yet where we harvest a few thousand each of moose and elk annually they currently harvest some 31,000 moose and 42,000 red deer plus an additional 33,000 roe deer and 41,000 roe deer? In regards to moose management, their logging practices create small clear cuts which provide much needed browse as well as residual cover. Heavy cropping of both sexes and a preponderance of calves in the moose harvest maintains a young age structure. However, it is worth noting that these spectacular numbers of animal produced each year have occurred during a long period when wolves existed at very low levels. Wolves are undergoing resurgence throughout Europe including Norway and Sweden. Issues that arise in BC include double standards when it comes to who can and who cannot hunt. Mr. Sumanik summed the symposium by saying that we need hands-on management if we are to recover our big game populations. Mr. Sumanik also stated his opinion that there should be the same laws for all residents of the province. Also that restrictions are being imposed by politicians who respond to what Mr. Sumanik referred to the badly misinformed urban public who have difficulty in comprehending what they do not understand and lobby to force their ill-advised philosophy of letting nature take its course. To quote Dr. Geist, “One should not expect wildlife to fend on its own, unassisted, in landscapes that are ecological caricatures, poor in habitats and filled with barriers, mortal dangers and harassments.” In other words, big game management requires hands-on management if it is to succeed as it has in the Scandinavian and several other European countries.

Kootenay Big Game Symposium Presentation 8

Cranbrook Mayor, Lee Pratt, welcomed 550 hunters to the Big Game Management Symposium at the Key City Auditorium in Cranbrook, BC on April 13, 2019. While, not a hunter himself, Mayor Pratt supports hunters and acknowledged that hunting has been a big economic driver in his community and in the East Kootenay in general.

The organizer of the Symposium, Carmen Purdy, Founder and Chair, Kootenay Wildlife Heritage Fund opened the Symposium, explaining his long involvement with BC Nature Trust and the BC Wildlife Federation in order to benefit big game in the Kootenays. The work of these organizations has resulted in the enhancement of 32,000 acres and the 28,000 acres acquired for elk and deer and the other plants and animals on those properties. These efforts to support big game date back to 1979 with proposals from Joe Hall and Ray Demarchi to impose a tax of 10 cents on both per tonne of coal and per cubic meter of timber that did not succeed but led to a tax hunters and anglers for each licence and tag-licence which established the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund. Supplemental winter feeding of elk was conducted by the Wildlife Branch between 1974 and 1979 and then by Carmen using hay from a field at the Crestbrook Pulp Mill in response to a severe winter in 1980-81 when there was 40 inches of snow. This required a large voluntary effort by hunters similar to the efforts of the last few winters when more than a hundred hunters donated funds and time to feed elk throughout the East Kootenay Trench and the Elk Valley.

Raymond Demarchi, retired BC Chief of Wildlife Conservation, described the historic conditions of the East Kootenay prior to and during his 28-year tenure as the Kootenay Regional Wildlife Section Head. In his first year, in the winter of 1964-65, he counted and classified 9,000 big game animals in a region which for many years supported up to 25% of the provincial big game hunting. He stated that big game populations can fluctuate widely and that in the 1800’s and early 1900’s ungulate populations were very low, and then increased rapidly after severe wild fires of the 1920’s and 30’s. These fires were a result of unmanaged slash from extensive railway tie-logging and created temporary or seral shrub-grasslands which provided much needed winter forage for deer, elk and bighorn sheep. This plus the intensive predator control by the BC Game Commission that began after WWII led to a peak of abundance in both species of deer, elk and bighorn sheep. These once productive shrub-grasslands have become overgrown by conifer forest succession which has greatly reduced their usefulness as big game winter ranges. Demarchi suggested that protecting the safety of the public by increasing the moat between predators and the human population and decreasing the potential risk of fire damage to communities by using logging and fire to rehabilitate game ranges should be serious and immediate government priorities. He advised designating and managing specific high capability ungulate winter range areas as a priority over forestry. He advised finding common ground through coordinated planning with other organizations including forestry, livestock and recreational interests and also including farmers who might be induced to remove fences if there were successful programs such as the ones in Colorado to compensate for wildlife damage. While he stated that management of large carnivores had to be part of big game management, alienating the concerned public with predator bashing will only end in a stalemate and a catatonic response from government. In the meantime while increasing the quantity of big game animals through habitat management, focus should also be on quality of populations by ensuring their socio-biological well being by restoring near normal sex and age ratios.

Dr. Valerius Geist, Professor Emeritus, University of Calgary (retired), is a specialist on biology, behaviour and social dynamics of North American ungulates. Geist maintains that grizzly bears and wolves are very sensitive and intelligent animals that can sense when people are a threat to them and will move away readily if people are bold, as was true with bears when bears were hunted in 1959 when he began work as a student at Well Grey Provincial Park. However, he stated that in Banff and Lake Louise, grizzly bears have become less afraid of people because the ones they encounter are hikers and not carrying guns and thus are no threat to them. In the Spatsizi, he studied Stone’s sheep, moose and caribou where there were large gatherings of bulls. Recently there was a superpack of 43 wolves in that area and at the same time he observed that there is a dearth of wild ungulates. Thus Geist described this situation as a “predator pit” when an abundance of predators reduces the numbers of ungulates to 10 percent of the previous long term level. This he feels is the result of protectionism, something that the US National Park Service has admitted is causing a loss of biodiversity and an increase in invasive plant species. He urged the audience to visit the website “Wildergarden” to learn about bringing back biodiversity through management using fire and logging. In the Saxony of Germany where there is the greatest density of wolves in the country, wolves are increasing at the rate of 35% per year leading to severe problems with farmers and game managers and causing traffic fatalities. Historical information about wolves is being ignored. He urged a return to science, scholarship and the middle approach, avoiding extremism. Wolves on average each kill 16 to 22 elk per year in Yellowstone so there is now a deficit of elk. The hunter take of black-tailed deer on Vancouver Island for example has dropped from 25,000 per year [40 to 50] years ago when wolves were near extinction to 2,000 recently when wolves were plentiful. Anecdotal observations reveal that Roosevelt elk have reduced their vocalizations during the rut to avoid wolf predation. The Island’s deer populations are now concentrated on farms and urban areas where they seek security from both cougars and wolves. Geist predicted that the extinction of the wolf will be the result of protecting them as they interbreed with domestic dogs and become coywolves, a hybrid with dogs. Geist’s solution is to manage the land for biodiversity rather than protecting it in parks.

Dr. Vince “Doc Moose” Crichton of Manitoba stated that the big issue for moose management in Manitoba at the moment is the unregulated harvest and that there a need for regulations that will apply to all hunters. Wolves also can cause a major problem. The main mortality sources for moose are predation by wolves and bears, railroad deaths, excessive access associated with clear cutting, winter ticks, brain worm, and hunting (regulated and non-regulated). In open prairie areas, moose are increasing. In Saskatchewan here were once over 100,000 farms, now there are 30,000 or less and moose numbers have increased on these larger, continuous farms. Fires produce good habitat for moose as well in the forested areas of the province. In 1985 the moose harvest in Manitoba was worth $8 million supported by 8000 hunters . At present there are only 2,000 hunters due to the decline in moose numbers. On Duck Mountain, one of the best hunting areas, from 1993 to 2010 there was a 58% decrease in the number of moose (although 4 areas were not hit with declines). In Alaska, 20 to 25 bulls per 100 cows are adequate because the bulls have harems of females in the open habitats during the rut. In Boreal and Temperate forests, bulls do not gather harems and thus 60 to 65 bulls per 100 cows is a better fit since females are only in oestrus for 30 hours. Larger populations of moose are required to have sufficient numbers of older females that are more productive, having twins, and in the occasional case triplets. Because populations of less than 100-133 moose cannot recover easily, it would be best to close hunting in the many populations in Manitoba that average 100-133 moose but there is a lack of political will to do so. Crichton advised making conservation a way of life (not just talking about it) and using a team approach to develop a shared management plan, putting science before politics. His discussion points with government include protecting cows and calves, enacting conservation closures on small populations, offering outfitters two or three bear tags per guided hunter, giving free bear and wolf tags to licensed Manitoba resident hunters, offering monetary incentives for registered trappers, closure of hunting of moose by non-resident hunters and removing packs of timber wolves from selected areas plus, of course significantly reducing the unregulated harvest.

Dr. Charles E. Kay, PhD, Wildlife Ecology, spoke about the lies, myths and scientific fraud surrounding wildlife issues in North America. Unlike most ecologists, Dr. Kay has spent a great amount of time studying the archaeological records as well as the journals of early western North American explorers. This has led him to conclude that the impact of Indigenous populations on large predators and on ungulates was far more important than previously thought since the human population size may have been underestimated. (He stated that some researchers now estimate 100 million Indigenous people in the Americas). Dr. Kay stated that large predators can have significant effects on prey for example; cougar studies have estimated an average kill of 50 deer per year while bears in Alaska also consume a significant number of moose and caribou calves. According to Parks Canada data, wolves and other predators are having a large effect in places like the Bow Valley and Park Canada’s Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in Alberta where elk numbers declined from 3000 prior to wolf decolonization to only around 300 today. In Yellowstone, wolves were released at three locations after computer modeling predicted there would be no significant impact on ungulates. The actual results, however are that the Northern Yellowstone elk herd which at its peak numbered more than 19,000 elk declined to a low of 3,000 while moose numbers are down to zero. Prior to the release of wolves, 5000 elk wintered In the Gros Ventre valley south of YNP, 3000 on feed and 2000 free ranging. However, today all of those elk are gone. Kay maintains that wolves have not lead to the restoration of deciduous ecosystems in Yellowstone as claimed in a widely seen video by a British videographer. In fact those few small areas that have shown some recovery of shrubs and trees were all at high elevation but all of the low and mid elevation areas with existing photographic records are still in poor condition. Thus, Dr. Kay concludes, the return of the wolf to Yellowstone is not an immediate means of restoring ecosystems which may require 60 years or more to occur. Dr. Kay also discussed predator-mediated competition where the addition of alternative prey species allows the predator to take the most vulnerable prey to very low levels or even extirpation. He discussed examples of predator–mediated competition between mule deer, elk and mountain lions on Elk Ridge in southern Utah, and caribou, moose and wolves across southern Canada.

Mr. Jim Beers, Biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (retired), outlined the problems that large predators are causing in many areas of the world including North America, Europe, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and India. Large predators chase, attack wound, kill and eat big game animals, cattle, sheep, dogs and even humans while also spreading infectious diseases. There is usually no documentation of how many occurrences of predator attacks and what was killed and thus there is confusion about the causes of declines of prey. Local communities could solve the problem of predation but far-away political entities in urban centres have become increasingly assertive about enforcing protection for predators. In settled landscapes, large predators will, when uncontrolled amongst abundant food sources, increase their densities until the total food supply dwindles as happened with wolves and moose on Isle Royale Island. Since the 1960’s, national governments both in the US and elsewhere have seized authority and jurisdiction over wildlife. With the support of scientists, wealthy supporters and the environmental/animal rights movement these issues have risen to the United Nations. Beers advised raising a fuss and putting pressure on government. Lobby the government to change the delegation of authority so that the responsibility for the management of big game in a local region is someone you can elect or remove at the next election. He also feels that revenue must be restored for conservation and not for non-game issues. Wildlife is an important natural resource, especially when local people can control wildlife and enhance its value for the local community.

Ken Sumanik

Kootenay Wildlife Heritage Fund

Please circulate to your contacts and have them forward to others.

Here are all the videos. Took a bit to export them and get them uploaded but it is all there now.

The links below are not searchable publicly yet and will only be available to people you share the links with.

Symposium Links to Individual Speakers

Big Game Symposium Interview Short

https://youtu.be/9UqIIJ1-Cgg

Big Game Symposium Interview Long

https://youtu.be/3RsvQ7P-KPk

Symposium Playlist

Symposium Playlist of all speakers and the interview videos.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAimGzgIpyXLqBa_ruOZspSMvkVIV4t6X

Symposium Links to Individual Speakers

Part 1 Mr. Carmen Purdy

https://youtu.be/mZjbGbJI-EA

Part 2 Mr. Ray Demarchi

https://youtu.be/nbXOuHU0rcM

Part 3 Dr. Val Geist

https://youtu.be/qcf2R6rq4JU

Part 4 Dr. Vince Crichton Doc Moose

https://youtu.be/XoCDiITC3CQ

Part 5 Dr. Charles E Kay

https://youtu.be/xTeWQtLzt-Q

Part 6 Mr. Jim Beers

https://youtu.be/WYR9Jy0pdss

Part 7 Mr. Ken Sumanik

https://youtu.be/mIuZKJ-5OLo