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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2019


29


Regulatory issues top concerns for cattlemen Livestock watering, wildfire recovery and range issues concern Kamloops ranchers


by TOM WALKER


KAMLOOPS – You may be out of the fire, but there is still the frying pan to deal with. BC Cattlemen’s Association general manager Kevin Boon was happy that the industry didn’t have to deal with fires this summer. “It was a welcome relief to deal with moisture issues rather than fire issues,” Boon told Country Life in BC after the Kamloops Stockmen’s Association’s annual general meeting, November 4. “Getting hay up has been a challenge in some areas, but a nice challenge compared to fires.”


Boon wasn’t able to deliver


his report in person at the meeting so Kam Stock president Ryan Scorgie delivered a summary. Regulations were the top issue this summer, Boon said, with new livestock watering rules being a key concern. Boon says BC Cattlemen’s has been working closely with provincial agriculture, environment and forests ministries on the issue, including following up on feedback received on the government’s livestock watering intentions paper. “We have had some very close discussion on the replies that came back from the consultation,” he says. “We have been able to put context around that, so it has been helpful, such as illustrating that cattle watering is a very, very, very small amount of water use.”


A lack of wildfires meant


extra helicopter time that the BC Wildfire Service did not need. BC Cattlemen’s took advantage of that to show government reps what members are facing on the ground at locations such as the massive Elephant Hill fire that broke out west of Kamloops in 2017. “They gave us a couple of hours and we were able to take the [assistant deputy ministers] around,” says Boon. A ground tour followed the


next day, and he says both were “extremely beneficial.” He feels government has a better understanding of the importance of water for the industry. “We went into a number of


issues, of which water was a big one,” he says. And they have been


promised a heads up. “We haven’t got any


communication on what they are going to put in [the new regulations], but we will have that before anything goes forward,” he says. “We are quite confident right now that progress is being made


and we are being heard.” Slow going


The ranges impacted by the Elephant Hill fire are now fully open, but there is still much work to do on fencing. First Nations archeological assessments have proven a key hurdle to restoring fences. “Fencing work that used to


take a few months to get through is now taking up to two years to get approvals and get the work done,” Boon says. “And it is adding, on average, close to 25% to our costs.” Ranchers and fencing


contractors have seen some improvement in efficiency, Boon says, but they are still looking for more consistency with procedures. “I believe FLNRO is


building a guidebook that will address UNDRIP


implementation questions,” he says. “Hopefully we will get some standards out there that we all are able to understand and will be fair to all.”


Boon urged all ranchers to


make sure they get their premises ID. “For the integrity of traceability, we need to get premises ID,” he says. While the province hasn’t made it mandatory, there’s a proposal to do so similar to what’s happened in Alberta and other jurisdictions. Poultry producers are fully


signed up and premises ID was an integral part of managing the 2014-2015 outbreak of avian flu, Boon notes. Premises ID provides emergency services agencies with a record of property occupancy. It allowed


ranchers to return to their properties during the 2017 and 2018 wildfires, and Boon hopes ranchers will take the government’s commitment to respecting their privacy and register as a fundamental step in emergency preparedness. Boon’s report noted that


the packinghouse project is still moving forward with an emphasis on using current processing facilities. “We think we have identified where we can get processing done and a brand developed,” Boon says. “A new packing plant is a tool and once we get to a capacity where we need that tool we will look at it.” BCCA is in the last phase of


the packing plant study. “We can’t as an association hold the brand,” Boon points out. “It is now up to the cooperative investors to


come forward and make the decisions. I am very happy where we are at right now.” Work continues on updating the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA). “The FRPA regulations are all about forestry and not about range,” says Boon. “We have been very adamant that this is a forest and range practices act, and so range has to be included and given equal consideration.” Agriculture on Crown land within the Agricultural Land Reserve is a second issue. Until now there hasn’t been a mandate to recognize agriculture on Crown ALR land, says Boon. “It is extremely important to us in ranching as half the ALR is Crown land,” he says. “Agriculture needs to be considered before other things are done on that land.”


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