NOVEMBER 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Range management strategies highlight symposium Growing demands require co-ordinated stewardship, access
by TOM WALKER VERNON – Balancing
stewardship and opportunities in a world of increasing demands was the focus of the Pacific Northwest Society for Range Management at its AGM and symposium in Vernon on October 4-5. The venue was perfect for a symposium convened to discuss “Using Co-operation and Innovation to Manage Complex Landscapes” as the Okanagan offers numerous examples of the interface between public range lands, ranchers, forest companies, wildlife, recreationalists, municipal water purveyors, and the general public. The symposium featured a
full day of speakers and a field trip to view a silvopasture project demonstrating many of the management tools mentioned during the talks. Ray Crampton, district manager with the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD), explained his ministry’s mandate as “the 50/50 rule. ” The aim is to balance opportunity and stewardship across the 95% of BC’s land base that’s publicly owned. “We promote resource exploitation and development in a strong natural
With prior planning, a processor can protect a stream from future impact by cattle with criss cross-debris, laying logs across the stream as he harvests a cut block. GARY TEGART PHOTO
health. “The one that we are really
having a tough time dealing with these days is recreation,” Crampton says, noting that the Okanagan’s population has more than doubled in the last 20 years. “Last summer, there were 300,000 visits to the Kettle Valley rail trail southeast of Kelowna.” As the population in the
Okanagan increases, the intersection of needs and the collaboration required to meet those needs increases. There are between 150 and
160 grazing licenses and permits within the Okanagan Shuswap district, says range officer Rob Dinwoodie. “Within those tenures, water is king,” he says. Those tenures spread
across 49 community watersheds, 12 of which provide domestic water for cities greater than 10,000
population. “Water quality is not a passing trend,” Dinwoodie points out. Sedimentation in a watercourse, whether the source is recreation, logging or
cattle, is a problem, Dinwoodie says. Not only is it a visual contaminant, but pathogens can hide behind the sedimentation. “We have been working closely with UBC Okanagan over the last four years,”
resource economy,” says Crampton. “And the other 50% is the sustainability of the ecosystems within the province of BC.” FLNRORD works together with the beef and forest industries to manage those competing interests to limit negative impacts on water quality and ecosystem
says Dinwoodie. “Previously, there was very little work on cryptosporidium in water and cow-calf operations in community watersheds, and we now have
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