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Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife

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Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife

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This blog story is about conservation and wildlife habitat management. We would like to introduce you to a tool that provides a list of species at risk and indicates ideas of management for their habitat.

 

In 2004, the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection initiated the creation of a strategy for better management of the Identified Wildlife under the Forest and Range Practices Legislation. They worked in partnership with the Ministry of Forest, stakeholders and the public. The first part of the document relates to the “Procedures for managing Identified Wildlife”. “The Account and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife” represents the second part of this strategy and describes the different species at risk given their status, their habitat, and the distribution of their population. It recommends some management strategies that could be implemented for the conservation of the species. The Identified Wildlife Management Strategy (IWMS) is a good resource for environmental workers helping them in this conservation effort. It gives them procedures, guidance and rules for planning the management of Identified Wildlife and helps them minimize negative consequences of forest and range practices. The habitat recovery can therefore be programmed taking in consideration the socioeconomic factors and the conservation of BC’s species at risk.

 

Depending on the state/condition of the habitat, the species are categorised as endangered, threatened or vulnerable and put into order on a regional importance (as well as their global and provincial status of conservation). Stewards can responsibly implement General Wildlife Measures (GWMs) for managing Identified Wildlife regardless of the Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHAs) that have been established. The creation of these areas as a  goal to conserve the crucial habitats that are especially threatened and on which the survival of species depends. The Identified Wildlife has been classified in this document through evaluations and rating of all species at risk accounting for the difference between relative risk in conservation and in forest and range management.

 

The document indexed all the species in a template that includes different information such as the species’ English and scientific names and everything that is related to them (taxonomy, description, life history, habitat and distribution). A protection and management assessment has been added. In this template you can find global and BC distribution information, the forest regions and district distribution according to the Ministry of Forests, the ecoprovince and ecosections. This follows the ecoregion classification system, a distribution system using the biogeoclimatic ecosystem units and the elevation too.

 

Moreover, a status subsection specifies the importance of conservation in a provincial and regional level which help to prioritize the management. In addition to the threats detected, another section shows the evolution of populations and habitats and the description of habitat conservation or wildlife regulations/legislation. This includes planning, management and advice offering measures for general wildlife and their habitat area. More than 50 animal and plant species have changed priority levels throughout the years of this account. 

 

Our partner organization the Chilcotin Ark Institute is using this tool through their management plan of the land and into their conservation effort.

 

Source : British of Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. 2004. Identified Wildlife Management Strategy Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife Southern Interior Forest Region Version 2004. Available at : http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/frpa/iwms/documents/Accounts_and_Measures_South.pdf [Accessed 03/2021].