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BCnature Winter 20228Continued page 9Conservation report continued from page 7Committee. Additionally, in large part thanks to our new Executive Director Stewart Guy, we are on the cusp of finalizing some substantial partnerships which should radically collared, and then released and increase our capacity, and which I look forward to reporting on in the pack. Once located, the entire next magazine. In the meantime, our priorities for the next quarter are• Expand our partnership with Kitasoo/Xai’xais Stewardship to better understand the substantial bird populations at their newly declared Gitdisdzu Lugyeks (Kitasu Bay) Marine Protected Area• Facilitate outreach to between 12 and 18 Indigenous groups on KBAs within their territory in partnership with WCS (including IBA sites being recognized as KBAs)• Continue to build partnerships with Environment Canada to increase monitoring efforts at remote IBA sites• Support our network of Naturalist Clubs and IBA Caretakers to survey, protect, and raise awareness of some of the most critical spots for biodiversity in B.C.As always, questions and comments can be directed to the IBA Provincial Coordinator Liam Ragan at iba@bcnature.org Update on Wolves and Bears by Jacqueline Sherk Wolves: The BC government’s wolf cull again moves ahead in its plan to continue killing wolves for a proposed five more years in an effort to support endangered caribou. In a document obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the Vancouver-based conservation group, The Fur Bearers, learned of a method authorized for use by government contractors hired to kill wolves, known as the ‘Judas Wolf’. This method directs that wolves should be tracked, trapped, followed using GPS to locate their pack is destroyed, leaving only the collared animal to survive in order to eventually again track it to another future pack site. Some conservation groups say this practice is unethical, inhumane, and inconsistent with the government’s own policies. Government previously denied use of this method, but this document obtained by The Fur Bearers appears to suggest otherwise. Bears: November 2022 celebrated the five-year anniversary of the end of the grizzly bear trophy hunt in BC. It was NDP leader John Horgan’s promise to the people of BC that if elected his party would impose a ban on the sport hunting of grizzlies. A ban imposed by one political party may not be maintained by another party taking power, however, and bear advocates implore us not to let our politicians forget that the majority of voters in our province do not support sport hunting. Sport hunting of black bear did not fall under the ban and continues to remain popular with hunters.Both grizzly and black bear denning sites remain under threat due to excessive old-growth logging across the province. It is in these old trees, both standing and downed, that bears build their hibernation dens and give birth to their young. The University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre said in an April 27, 2022, press release that “Bear dens are nurseries for bears – as essential to cubs as nests are for birds”, and that “current and historic land management activities in BC pose an active threat to the long-term survival of these species”. Black bear dens are currently protected only on Haida Gwaii and the Great Bear Rainforest. Grizzlies aren’t present on Haida Gwaii; however, they are in the Great Bear Rainforest where their dens are protected.Green Party MLA Adam Olsen has, in response, tabled an amendment to the BC Wildlife Act which would create protections for critical winter denning habitat for bears, and BC Nature has supported the effort in a letter written to Josie Osborne, Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship, and to Katrine Conroy, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, urging government to enact this important legislation.along with the Fur Bearers, https://bit.ly/3ThPanN Sierra Club, https://bit.ly/3DPkTXt, Pacific Wild Conservation, https://bit.ly/3TeonIL.An April 2022 poll found here , https://bit.ly/3DFgrKQ, of Canadians showed that more than 80% of residents are against sport or trophy hunting of Grizzly Bear. While 62% of Canadians support hunting animals for meat, the vast majority of Canadians do not Photo: J. KneeschMarsh Wren