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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • AUGUST 2018 Audit request takes aim at cattle ranchers
Demand for audit of Crown leases based on dubious sources
by TOM WALKER KELOWNA – Things are not
always what they seem. The latest example is a
“request for an audit and examination of cattle grazing leases on Crown land, and related issues” the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre made to the BC auditor general on June 12. “On behalf of the BC
Wildlife Federation, we hereby request that you undertake an examination of the continued existence of cattle grazing leases; the government of British Columbia’s practice of re-issuing cattle grazing leases under the Land Act and related issues with Range Act grazing tenures,” the request asked. BC Cattlemen’s Association
(BCCA) general manager Kevin Boon calls the request a misrepresentation at best and just the latest salvo in a 40- year campaign by the BCWF. “This is really about having
unrestricted access to all Crown lands, including lease lands,” says Boon. “It’s not that they don’t have access. They do. They just don’t want to ask for it.”
Just 0.17% of Crown land is leased to cattle ranchers, or 159,500 hectares of the 88.5 million hectares of Crown land in BC. Under tenure agreements, ranchers pay for
a land survey as well as annual lease fees and property taxes. Ranchers are able to put up fences around their lease and control access for safety and land management, but they pay all the costs. All infrastructure, such as water developments, cross fencing and corrals, are also the responsibility of the lease owner. Government money
doesn’t support infrastructure on leased range, and one of the request’s most outrageous points for ranchers is the claim that it does. “They talk about the
industry being heavily subsidized and they use the highway fencing program to argue that,” says Boon. “The highway fencing program is not in place for the containment of cattle; it is there for protection of the motoring public. Those fences are built on highway right-of- ways, not on private land or Crown lease land.” The request also overlooks the habitat range land provides wildlife, which should be of prime importance to conservation organizations. Animals often seek refuge on lease land because there are fewer hunters, Boon points out, although most ranchers will grant public
No free ride. In spite of allegations by the BC Wildlife Federation’s call for an audit of Crown range leases, ranchers actually assume the costs of infrastructure as part of their contracts. TRUDY SCHWEB PHOTO
access to leases during the hunting season. Instead, the request
presents a list of environmental risks it claims cattle ranching presents – but no proof. Boon says this undermines its credibility. “The request says cattle could impact riparian areas, they could affect water quality in streams, they could cause soil erosion,” says Boon. “There is nothing in it that says they do.”
The request also cites
several dubious sources, in Boon’s opinion. “Several of the footnotes
reference communication with Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, May 11, 2018, without giving names of people involved,” notes Boon. One reference cites an unpublished Economics 370 paper from a UBC student. “I wonder what grade the
kid got for that report,” Boon quips. “They are taking some student project and making it look like fact.” A table is credited to the Grasslands Conservation Council, which Boon says cannot verify the origin. BCCA will not engage in a
he-said-she-said campaign. “We are going to get
more information out there in a public awareness/public trust campaign,” he says. “This is something we have
been moving towards and we will just ramp it up a bit.” The auditor general’s office
says that any audit would be some ways off. It has a three- year work plan, which it updates regularly. It typically adheres to this unless an issue is considered of significant importance. Audits are only conducted after a thorough investigation of the need, including review of materials held by the ministries in question.
Boon has some faith in that
process. “The auditor general is an independent body and we trust her to thoroughly look at whether this is of value to spend the time and money or is it just somebody spouting sour grapes,” says Boon. With files from Peter Mitham
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