Safari Club International (SCI) is looking to establish a group in Tumbler Ridge.
The group, says Dave Ryder, a director of the BC Interior chapter, is working on a project to find committee members in different areas around the province, “to assist us in advocating for hunting and wildlife conservation.”
Two local residents have stepped forward to support the project.
Ryder says he is a frequent visitor of Tumbler Ridge, and has family who lives here. This, coupled with the unique bio-diversity the area has, means that Tumbler Ridge is the perfect place for the group’s first pilot committee hub. “The initial objective will be to create awareness of what SCI has to offer and seek local support through memberships, dialogue and future projects,” he says. “These could include fund raisers in the form of fishing derbies, contests, raffles etc.”
SCI was established “To advocate, preserve and protect the rights of all hunters; to promote safe, legal and ethical hunting and related activities; to monitor, support, educate or otherwise take positions on local, regional, and provincial legislative, executive, judicial or organizational endeavours that foster and support these purposes and objectives, within the limits imposed by law and regulation; to inform and educate the public concerning hunting and related activities; to create public engagement on our natural resources; and to replace political influence with beneficial management practices through seeking out sound scientific practices on wildlife management to achieve a sustainable province wide action plan to protect and enhance our natural resources for future generations.
One of their big missions in BC is to address the provincial hunting regulations, which have remained somewhat unchanged for the past 50-years. Some general seasons have been replaced with Limited Entry Draws, some shortened and some expanded.
However, over this time, access has tremendously, the provincial population has increased and technology is far different. “Our existing season lengths and generous bag limits cannot be sustained,” says the SCI website. “This is something very unique to British Columbia as the rest of North America has shorter seasons, most animals on a draw system and bag limits that are manageable. Everyone but us has shifted to the mentality of herd quality vs. hunter opportunity.”
They are also looking at preserving wildlife habitat. “The Species at Risk Act (COSEWIC) and many other scientific groups have identified that the number one cause on the loss of wildlife is due to habitat loss and fragmentation,” says SCI. I”n British Columbia we heavily rely on natural resource extraction. This benefit has come at a significant cost to our wildlife’s home. We have heavily fragmented migration patterns, critical habitats, old growth forests, calving areas, etc. The past decades have literally changed the landscape so dramatically some species will never recover such as the Selkirk herds of Mountain Caribou. However, it doesn’t stop there…presently our existing ungulate species are also being affected on various levels by habitat fragmentation.”
The organization is also looking to improve the image of hunters. As short as 50 years ago, hunters were “highly revered” within mainstream society. “However, this was mainly due to an evenly distributed population of both rural and urban citizens. Presently, almost 80 percent of our population lives within urban settings. Hunting is now an activity which is mostly viewed via social media, TV and mainstream media. Over the past 25-years the hunting image has been reduced to a non-favorable aspect of human society.”
This is says SCI, partially the fault of the people involved in hunting. “We as a hunting community have a lot to blame for that as well. Our goal is to redefine and re-educate the mainstream population on the true benefits and hunting heritage of this home we call Canada.”
“SCI interior commitment is to establish relationships in all of BC, to advocate from a local to provincial level on enhancing wildlife ad representation of the hunting community,” says Ryder. “With the formation of a hub committee, Tumbler would be a base to reach out for support of the surrounding area.
“We have large goals in the works to become established as a major advocate for hunters and wildlife in BC. In return, should we be successful SCI Canada will assist us on local projects in particular those that pertain to wildlife and habitat, local fund raisers can bring dollars to the town in the form exposure, banquets, fishing derby’s and so on.”
