The province is imposing interim moratoriums on new industrial activities in the South Peace to protect caribou habitat.
The moratoriums are in areas critical to caribou recovery, including areas around Mackenzie, Tumbler Ridge, and Chetwynd, the province announced Thursday. The moratorium is just one of 14 recommendations by Blair Lekstrom, the Dawson Creek city councillor appointed the premier's local liaison on the file in April.
"Blair Lekstrom has recommended that we press the pause button on new resource development and take more time to engage with affected communities and industries, while taking necessary steps to protect caribou," Premier John Horgan said in a news release.
"Everyone in the Peace region agrees that we need to recover our caribou herds and protect local jobs. Regrettably, this issue has divided communities and provoked sentiments that have no place in British Columbia. The only way we will make progress is by working together. We must listen and work collaboratively to find the best solution."
The order under Section 7 of the Environment and Land Use Act will prevent new authorizations with regard to Section 12 of the Coal Act, Section 10 of the Mines Act and Section 25 of the Oil and Gas Activities Act. In short, it will prevent new authorizations with regard to these acts that would be detrimental to caribou and caribou habitat in the moratorium area.
The order under Part 13 of the Forest Act allows the minister to take specific action within this area. The order precludes the issuance of permits associated with harvesting of trees and construction of roads. Road construction will be allowed only to facilitate harvesting of already issued cutting permits or timber sales licences. The area associated with this order represents 734,410 hectares of land, including approximately 120,000 hectares of Timber Harvesting Land Base over three management units: Dawson Timber Supply area (TSA), Mackenzie TSA and Tree Farm Licence 48.
The moratorium provides habitat protection for caribou while work with First Nations on long-term caribou management continues. In addition, it will provide more time for engagement with local municipalities, the Peace River Regional District, industrial operators in the area and other stakeholders, with the aim of recovering caribou populations while maintaining community economic stability. The moratorium will be in place until June 20, 2021, or until it is repealed.
"We're taking these actions because we want to protect the caribou herds while limiting potential economic impacts. This allows us to look after the interests of workers and communities as we take real action to recover the herds," Forests Minister Doug Donaldson said.
