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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • NOVEMBER 2016


Ranchers square off against wood rustlers Weathered fencing has become a prime target by those seeking the rustic look in home decor


by PETER MITHAM


KAMLOOPS – Reports of predation are up, rustling reports are down, but what’s really troubling cattle country this fall are wood thieves. High cattle prices last year saw many animals butchered in the field, a phenomenon that hasn’t been as pronounced this year. Prices have fallen and, while ranchers are still rounding up cattle, there haven’t been the kinds of gruesome reports BC Cattlemen’s Association general manager Kevin Boon was hearing last year.


What is going missing is the weathered wood that lend a rustic touch to condos in the Lower Mainland where new construction has outstripped the availability of


weathered timbers. “It’s not cattle that’s getting rustled, it’s our fences getting stolen,” Boon told Country Life in BC. “We know of probably about $50,000 worth of lumber that’s been stolen off the Coquihalla in the last month or two.”


While the fencing along the Coquihalla is due for replacement after serving its purpose for more than 30 years, Boon says the


KEVIN BOON


premature removal is creating a huge risk to cattle and motorists. “A lot of the places where we have underpasses for the cattle to go under the Coquihalla, we have wood planks to guide them in,” Boon explained.


“[The thieves] are coming in and they’re just chainsawing them off, so it’s leaving a wide open hole onto the highway.” The thefts come ahead of the final year of a $14 million provincially funded fence-building program across the province. While many of the fences are barbed- wire construction, the damage to the


underpasses underscores


the vulnerabilities facing the infrastructure.


The situation also underscores the need for an enforcement officer dedicated to range issues. RCMP Corporal Ralph Overby


retired in 2015 and has not been replaced. Many local police detachments find themselves hard- pressed to keep up with criminal activity, leaving many ranchers frustrated.


On the positive side, Boon said verification of losses attributed to predators is up. While livestock deaths aren’t in themselves good news, there are more resources available to compensate ranchers.


“We have a little more money being paid for losses, so that helps,” Boon said.


Wolves appear to be the primary culprit this year, prompting some to back a cull, but bears have been less of a problem thanks to weather conditions that left them with more food than last year’s drought.


New hires to investigate ALR complaints


by PETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – The


province has made good on a pledge to bolster enforcement of regulations governing the Agricultural Land Reserve. Derek Sturko, the province’s deputy minister of agriculture, made the announcement at the annual meeting of the Union of BC Municipalities. The news was seized upon as a sign that farms would have to stick to recently announced agri-tourism regulations. However, the move simply made good on a pledge to use $1.6 million added to the land commission’s budget this year for heightened enforcement.


The hiring of four new officers boosts the commission’s compliance force to six. However, officers aren’t about to go looking for trouble. With complaints tumbling in from across the province, they’ll have more than enough to do


investigating the issues being brought to their attention. Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun told Country Life in BC that city officials know of at least 450 parcels where non- compliant activities are taking place. He was counting on the ALC’s beefed-up budget and increased resources for enforcement of the


commission’s regulations to dovetail with plans in Abbotsford to get tough with non-compliant uses of protected farmland.


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