Monday,
February 1, 2016 5:16:27 PST PM
B.C.
government is proposing conservation plans for two different threatened
feathered species with significant populations in the Lower Mainland — a bird
of prey and a small seabird.
The
plan was shared with Metro Vancouver recently by the provincial Ministry of
Forests, describing a need to increase protected habitat.
The
first is the Northern Goshawk, raven-sized raptors believed to make up up to
780 “home ranges” across the province — the term describes a breeding area with
a surrounding suitable foraging area where the birds can raise their young.
These
birds are listed as threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act registry,
mainly because they have a small population and have lost traditional habitats.
Locally,
in the south coast region, it’s believed another 83 home ranges need to be
protected to meet current conservation goals. Government’s current plan is to
protect 30 of those areas by 2020 as part of a B.C.-wide strategy.
Marbled
Murrolet live in coastal areas and rely on old-growth forest.
“Their
at-risk status is due mainly to the loss and fragmentation of their old growth
nesting habitat and due to threats in the marine habitats where they feed,” the
ministry said in its plan, pointing to things like oil spills and fisheries
by-catch as some threats.
“It
is estimated that an additional 210,000 hectares of (murrelet) habitat would
have to be protected in order to achieve the federal minimum habitat thresholds
applied to provincial Crown land only.”
The
current strategy proposes the creation of reserves in the Great Bear
Rainforest, and through managing old growth forests and “priority” habitats
along the coast.
By
2017, government is expected to specify the amounts of land needed to be protected
in each B.C. conservation region.
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