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Mountain Caribou Campaign Chronology
Oct 16, 2007
The Mountain Caribou Project’s campaign to protect mountain caribou began six years ago. Since then many thousands of people have been involved in the fight to see this amazing animal receive the habitat protection it needs to survive. Here are some of the campaign highlights.
October 2001 – Over 80 US and Canadian environmental organizations sign onto an Emergency Resolution calling for a moratorium on logging and motorized recreation in mountain caribou habitat.
October 2002 – BC government releases Mountain Caribou Recovery Strategy, but it includes no mandate for action. Environmental groups release their own “Emergency Recovery Plan.”
Fall 2002 – Multi-stakeholder “Recovery Implementation Groups” formed for North, North Kootenay, and South Kootenay.
May 2003 – Mountain Caribou Project formed.
February 2004 -- BC government releases management plan for the southern herds. Mountain Caribou Project pans the proposal and organizes over 10,000 faxes to government.
April 2004 -- Demonstrators wearing mountain caribou antlers educate the public and consulate employees outside the Canadian Consulate in Seattle about the clear-cutting of endangered species habitat in BC.
September 2004 – BC’s watchdog Forest Practices Board releases BC’s Mountain Caribou: Last Chance for Conservation? Seminal report warns: “The substantial and continuing decline in the mountain caribou population is serious and requires urgent government attention.” ForestEthics is quoted in Vancouver Sun calling for moratorium on logging in mountain caribou until recovery areas can be mapped and protected.
October 2004 – BC appoints a Species at Risk Coordinator and charges him with “fast-tracking” recovery for mountain caribou, spotted owl and marbled murrelet. Environmental groups are skeptical, given the initiative’s small budget of $800,000.
January 2005 – Government strikes expert science team to guide mountain caribou recovery planning under the direction of the Species at Risk Coordinator. Mountain Caribou Project opens lines of communication with Coordinator and science team members.
May 2005 – Mountain Caribou Project releases Staring at Extinction, a comprehensive report that details amounts of planning logging in mountain caribou habitat by company, and identifies the government’s own BC Timber Sales program as the third-largest logger of mountain caribou habitat. West Fraser Timber emerges as by far the largest. Vancouver Sun runs a full-page story on the report and its findings.
June 2005 – ForestEthics organizes a large demonstration and street party outside “Summit 2005”, the world’s largest timber industry gathering, in Vancouver. Hundreds of people gather, most of them wearing caribou antlers, to demand more forest protection and a shift to ecosystem-based logging practices for all of Canada’s endangered forests and endangered species habitat.
June 2005 – Species at Risk Coordination Office formed.
August 2005 -- After three years of multi-stakeholder meetings, the Northern Recovery Implementation Group completes its report. The report identifies both critical core and critical matrix habitat, and makes specific protection recommendations. (North Kootenay and South Kootenay RIGS are suspended in June 2005.)
April 2006 – ForestEthics and allies rally at the Annual General Meeting of West Fraser Timber, the largest logger of caribou habitat, in Edmonton, Alberta. ForestEthics releases a look-alike West Fraser annual report, calling out the company for its unsustainable practices.
May 2006 – At a major mountain caribou conference in Revelstoke, BC, Mountain Caribou Project members and allies drop a banner that asks if the BC government, host of the 2010 Olympic Winter Gamers, is “Going for Gold in Extinction”, given repeated delays in caribou recovery action.
September 2006 – Frustrated at ongoing delays, Mountain Caribou Project and the Wilderness Committee release a map showing the habitat identified by the government’s mountain caribou science team, and calling for it all to be protected.
October 2006 – Minister Bell makes announcement on caribou recovery, asserts that no more habitat needs to be protected and that caribou can be recovered through predator control. Recovery plan also contemplates writing off some of the smaller herds. Mountain Caribou Project urges Bell to stick to the science and protect habitat.
November 2006 – Mountain Caribou Project launches billboard and bus shelter advertisements asking “ Happily Ever After or Once Upon a Time: Which Story Will BC Tell?” The ads are placed around the legislature in Victoria, while billboards go up near Minister Bell’s riding office in Prince George and at key ferry terminals.
December 2006 – Victoria’s Secret announces it will no longer purchase pulp that originates in caribou habitat for its catalogues, and that it will no longer purchase pulp from West Fraser.
December 2006 – Christmas organizing includes a call for BC to protect “Santa’s reindeer.” Grade 7 and 8 students from W.E. Graham Community School in Slocan, BC sing their own “caribou carol” and post the video to YouTube.
January 2007 -- BC government begins public consultation on its draft recovery plan. ForestEthics releases new poll that shows 86% of British Columbians say they want the government to protect the animal's habitat from logging and other industrial uses.
February 2007 – At the end of the public comment period, the Mountain Caribou Project announces that government has received a flood of mountain caribou “fan mail” – at least 12,000 messages from BC and beyond.
March 2007 – ForestEthics and Wildsight, representing the Mountain Caribou Project, meet with Minister Bell. They are accompanied by the environmental Vice-President of Victoria’s Secret, who explains why his company has stopped buying products that originate in caribou habitat.
April 2007 – ForestEthics releases a video that “flies” viewers over West Fraser's operations in endangered caribou habitat in BC and Alberta, using Google Earth technology. Tony Parsons and Global TV run a major feature story on the video and the mountain caribou issue.
May 2007 -- ForestEthics and Simon Fraser University host a well-attended forum in Vancouver. Leading scientific, academic and environmental experts, including the head of the government’s mountain caribou science team, paint a tough future for BC's mountain caribou if the provincial government does not take action to safeguard remaining caribou herds.
June 2007 -- ForestEthics releases new analysis showing that the fate of 21 endangered species is tied to that of mountain caribou. The caribou shares its range with at least 21 other at-risk species, including wolverine, grizzly bear, peregrine falcon, cut-throat trout and a host of rare insects.
July 2007 – “Summer of the Caribou”: Canvassers fan out across the province to sign up thousands of new caribou supporters in advance of anticipated major government announcement.
July 2007 -- Close to 700 businesses, 80% of them American, sign a letter urging Premier Gordon Campbell to ensure greater habitat protection for BC's endangered mountain caribou. Signatories range from architects to insurance companies to guitar manufacturers, and include cosmetics giant Aveda.
August 2007 – At a “green carpet” premiere screening of the film “The 11th Hour” celebrities including film star Marlee Maitlin sign postcards to the BC government asking for caribou protection. The Vancouver Sun runs a front-page photo of Marlee signing her card.
October 2007 – Over 2500 postcards linking protection of mountain caribou habitat to the province's fight against climate change are delivered to Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell.
