When I moved to P.G in 1983, and began ingratiating myself in our community, I met many folks who assured me we would never run out of logs, farmland, forests, moose, oil, and everything else we've been conditioned to believe. From observing all manner of resources disappearing at increasing rates on a global scale I knew these opinions were foolish ( way back then ) because they refute the natural laws of a finite resource by 'opinion' rather than fact.
After reading your article on the 50 per cent decline of moose populations in the PG area, in relation to beetle-logging creating ease of access to otherwise difficult areas, I want to point out one other major factor in this. When I began hunting the regions which cover our area, I found how difficult access to much of the back country was when one had only common transportation. This changed rapidly with the escalating sales of ATVs which are uniquely designed and suited for a wide variety of off-road uses. Some of us saw the writing on the wall.
While road hunting and even off-road hunting in a vehicle such as a jeep or a pick-up has limits, modern ATVs have an absolute minimum where limited access is concerned. They "industrialize" access to virtually every area that formerly was accessible only by horse or on foot. They have also been instrumental in professional poaching much as they've modernized professional rustling operations.
Hunters who use ATVs are able to go into places that road deactivations once made impossible for most full-sized vehicles. When you factor in ATV use across the gamut of hunting modes from private to professional outfitters, over the last 25 years, the result has been well entrenched over-hunting in all of Canada and certainly in British Columbia. If the government actually gave a 'tinker's damn' on this issue they would outright ban the use of ATVs in any aspect of hunting. To refute any form of increasing industrial mobility as an addition to inevitable environmental losses is as stupid as saying a pipeline won't damage the wilderness it crosses.
I suspect this opinion will draw the usual defense mechanisms from those who demand their 'natural right' to pursue whatever they want. The case for recreational industries usually takes the lead because of the "industry" rather than the ethical considerations for future generations. Until this attitude changes we will see little more than 'band-aid' attempts to address the problem. I've watched moose populations decline sharply in the PG region in the last 7 years. In some of my favorite places I rarely see any moose at all. Too bad for all of us who meat-hunt.
Dennis Ouellette
Prince George
