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Are we doomed to become like indoor cats, hunkered down with limited space to roam, and eating food from a box? The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation protects wildlife as a shared public resource, allocated fairly to common folk, and managed based on sound science. It is meant to be democratic and forward-looking.  

Over the past 30 years, British Columbia has drifted from this egalitarian, sustainable model, particularly as the government embraces short-term political expediency over science-based decision-making. For decades, the narrative around public consultation has always been the same. Write to your MLA. Talk to your MLA. They represent you. 

Members of the outdoor community are trying to get the government’s attention. The BC Wildlife Federation along with the East Kootenay Wildlife Association organized a series of open houses across B.C. to engage with elected officials and candidates for office and demand an end to backroom dealing. 

We are witnessing a slow-motion natural catastrophe in the absence of data, in the absence of evidence, decisions about wildlife allocations and quotas are being driven by politics. The result is a creeping conversion of General Open Season hunts into Limited Entry Hunts and the erosion of allocations for some species by 50, 80, or even 100 per cent, with no discernable scientific reasoning.

 B.C. is home to 300,000 freshwater anglers, 275,000 saltwater anglers, 316,000 firearms license holders, and 110,000 licensed hunters. The numbers are in our favour. We need to convince our elected officials to Put Wildlife First and we have the numbers to make it happen. Candidates for office ignore us at their peril.

B.C. has long profited from natural resource extraction. We must use some of that money to ensure that service roads are removed, extraction sites are rehabilitated, forests are maintained, and habitat is restored. In B.C. the proportion of the Provincial Budget spent on renewable resource management has steadily decreased, in 2024, less than 1% of the Provincial Budget will be spent on renewable resource management. B.C. is failing on every count.

We can influence this election candidate by candidate, vote by vote. If you want to see a change in how our wildlife is managed, you must attend campaign events and talk to your local candidates. It is vital that they hear our concerns everywhere they go.

Ask questions of your candidates and demand answers.