Land use review process pleases veteran rancher

Bill Drury likes the new environmental review process in the Yukon.

Bill Drury likes the new environmental review process in the Yukon.

It provides for full public review and input from private individuals and every level of government, special interest organizations and so on.

Everything’s out in the open, Drury says while taking a break from haying at his Circle D Ranch along the Takhini River on Wednesday.

But he finds it puzzling that the Yukon government - and its management of wild elk infested with winter ticks - is not subject to the same scrutiny by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board that he is.

Drury’s most recent application to fence another 160 acres with eight-foot game fence to allow for the expansion of his elk herd has just gone through the assessment process.

In the end, he was granted permission by the Department of Environment to go ahead with his proposal, using a single fence, despite widespread calls for double fencing.

Local first nations and renewable resource councils, the Yukon Conservation Society, and even staff within the Department of Environment, all called for double fencing.

Double fencing, they argued, is the only way to ensure no “nose-to-nose” contact between the domestic and wild elk and other animals.

“Knowing that this agricultural parcel is adjacent to established elk and deer populations, it is only prudent to employ the highest standard of disease control prevention measures,“ Environment staff wrote in the submission to the assessment board.

“Accordingly, and while it is currently not a requirement at this time, it is the Department of Environment’s preference that double fencing be utilized.“

Drury pointed out to the board in his written submission that double fencing would be cost-prohibitive.

With a minimum distance of a couple metres between the two fences, there would also be a significant loss of available pasture, he submitted.

Besides, Drury wrote, there’s been no environmental assessment of the need for double fencing, and thus no evidence to support the call for double fencing.

He emphasized his elk are healthy and disease-free. He tests them regularly, as it’s in his best interest to keep them disease-free.

The assessment board recommended the expansion be allowed, with double fencing. Senior Environment officials overturned the double fencing recommendation from the board and its own staff, and permitted the application with single fencing, in keeping with current regulations.

In Wednesday’s interview with the Star, Drury points out he went through a fairly exhaustive environmental assessment as a private farmer wanting to expand pasture on private land, to add 20 head of elk to his existing herd of 24 healthy elk.

The government, on the other hand, has had no environmental assessment of its initiative to capture and treat a portion of the wild Takhini Valley elk infested with the winter tick - a bug that is fatal to moose and caribou - then release them back into the wild, free of the tick.

There is, Drury says, something wrong with that picture.

He doesn’t want to suggest the capture, cure and release effort should not have happened, or was ill-conceived.

Running it through the assessment process, however, would have provided for much greater public input - and understanding - of what the Department of Environment was proposing.

Drury says as a representative of the Yukon Agricultural Association and Game Growers Association, he sat in on the discussions held to develop the Elk Management Plan, and to address the situation with the winter tick.

The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, he points out, indicated they did not want to see an increase in the numbers of transplanted wild elk, lest they run into the same problems they’re having with an exploding population of transplanted bison.

Farmers, he emphasizes, certainly don’t want to see the herd grow, because they’ve already been impacted by its growth and expanding range down the Takhini Valley.

But when the Department of Environment released the elk from the LaPrairie Bison Ranch last week , there were 105 adults captured last winter, along with 50 newborn calves, Drury points out.

He adds that had those calves been born in the wild, a good many of them would have been killed by predators.

The three Northern Tutchone First Nations, he notes, have indicated that not only do they want their traditional territories to remain tick-free, they don’t even want the elk there - period.

But the Braeburn herd of 100-plus animals, which are also infested with the winter tick, roams within the traditional territory of the Little-Salmon Carmacks First Nation, one of the three Northern Tutchone first nations.

And the Yukon government plans a similar capture, cure and release program for some of the Braeburn elk next year.

“One of the concerns I have heard from people is there has not been enough public input,“ says Drury. “It (YESAB) is an open and fair process that has been created. It worked for me as a private land owner.

“Why would it not work just as well for the Yukon government?“

Granted, Drury concedes, the government did consult with a myriad of experts, first nations, the agricultural community and so on to come up with its plan to address the tick infestation.

But it was still a fairly significant endeavour with potentially serious environmental impacts that went ahead without public scrutiny by the environmental assessment board, he says.

Drury says he personally believes there is a place for a well-managed wild elk population, for wildlife viewing opportunities, and more harvest opportunities which will reduce pressure on moose, for instance.

But he’s not sure everybody sees it that way.

The public in general may not, he says.

It’s hoped that by capturing the majority of the Takhini elk, and holding them until they were free of the winter tick, the infestation would be significantly reduced, along with any chance of them spreading to moose or caribou.

The Yukon’s wild elk are non-indigenous, but were first transplanted here in the 1950s. The government infused the population with more transplants in the 1980s.

The infestation was detected in March 2007, when wildlife officials were in the field capturing and collaring 12 elk in the Takhini herd and six in the Braeburn herd. All 18 animals were carrying the tick.

Some have said the simplest and quickest way to deal absolutely with the winter tick, and the potential spread to indigenous moose and caribou, is to kill them all.

Champagne and Aishihik Chief Diane Strand said Thursday afternoon the first nation is keeping a close eye on the elk situation, and is currently working with the government to come up with a joint-elk sustainable management plan. The first nation plans to include a sustainable harvest strategy in that plan, she said.

The chief noted there remains a significant concern surrounding the infestation.

“The winter tick situation has scared a lot of us,“ she said. “A lot of our members have talked to me about it.“