Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program (AMCEP) 2015 Report

Transcription

1 BC Conservation Officer Service Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program (AMCEP) 2015 Report Compiled by Sgt. Conservation Officer Cam Schley May 15-Nov15, 2015 East Flathead AMA Middle Pass

2 Introduction This is the 2015 final Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program (AMCEP) Report for the 6 month period (May 15 to November15) completed by Sgt. Conservation Officer Schley. The AMCEP was developed in 2009, but did not have a set 5 year contract commitment until 2011; this is the fifth year of the contract. The priority for this program has been focusing and delivering on compliance and enforcement in the Regional District of East Kootenay s (RDEK) Electoral Area A Access Management Areas (AMA s) for the 6 month period. The BC Conservation Officer Service would like thank the RDEK, Columbia Basin Trust, other stakeholder groups and the Communities of Fernie, Sparwood and Elkford for funding this essential program and making it a provincially known success. The following summaries are some highlights from May 15, 2015 to November 15, Summary The 2015 AMA period was significantly different than the past number of years. Conservation Officer (CO) Burley, the dedicated CO to the RDEK AMA program went on light (office) duties and then maternity leave for the total length of the 2015 program year. This resulted in other CO s in the East Kootenay zone (6 officers) needing to prioritize RDEK Area A AMA s, at expense of other services that the East Kootenay CO s have traditionally focused on during the spring, summer and fall months. The CO s in Cranbrook and Fernie focused enforcement efforts on AMA s, angling efforts on classified waters, campfire ban patrols and hunting patrols. CO s time was also significantly taxed addressing human wildlife conflicts (bears and cougars) from mid- August to early October with over 60 bears dealt with in that period. In addition, there were 3 grizzly bear attacks in a period of 12 days during this time that also significantly impacted CO s workload. Despite these pressures, Fernie and Cranbrook CO s met the allotted field time as part of the RDEK AMA agreement. However, not having a dedicated CO (i.e. CO Burley) to the AMA program this season left a noticeable hole in the delivery of the program particularly in the outreach portion. It was obvious that CO Burley brings a significant presence to the RDEK AMA program and the program did not function as effortlessly as it has when CO Burley has been dedicated to it. In a year over year comparison (2014 vs. 2015), AMA charges were down 35%, non-ama charges were up 18%, hours spent in AMA s were up 18% and hours spent doing AMA outreach and education were down 45%. A number of factors could be attributed to these statistics including: increased efforts by East Kootenay Zone CO s on AMA enforcement, the lack of a dedicated CO to the RDEK program for 2015 (particularly evident for outreach efforts), increased compliance by some members of the public due to the extensive enforcement and educational efforts that have been made over the last few years, and inability of East Kootenay CO s to be patrolling AMA s at peak violation times because of bear attacks, human wildlife conflicts and campfire ban patrols. Despite CO Burley being off on office duties and maternity leave in 2015, hours spent in AMA s was up over 2014 (630 hrs in 2015 vs hrs in 2014) and a number of excellent enforcement AMA files were successfully completed by East Kootenay CO s.

3 May to November 2015 An investigation from June in the East Flathead AMA was concluded in July resulting in two AMA warning tickets. Two men were involved in a Fernie Search and Rescue call out on June 20 th for a lost person. The men said that they had driven their truck through Middle Pass from Alberta into BC. It was later found rolled off the Lodgepole Forest Service Road. The men are non-residents of BC, and are no longer in BC and due to difficulties in getting tickets served in a non-bc jurisdiction, warning tickets were forwarded to them. Figure 1: Truck rolled off the Lodgepole FSR in June. With the extremely hot and dry weather that BC received over May, June and July, a fire ban came into effect for July 3 rd and remained in effect until August 30 th. As a result, CO s worked longer days in order to ensure compliance with camp fire bans. Despite the long days, CO s still patrolled for anglers, AMA recreation users and dealt with problem wildlife. Campfire ban patrols enabled CO s to be out at times not normally part of regular patrols. AMA violations were encountered during some of these late night patrols and enforcement action was taken on violators. CO Garay and Sgt Schley patrolled the East Flathead on July 28 th and 29 th. While they patrolled the area they checked a number of anglers, ATV ers and horseback riders. During these patrols they found that AMA signs were missing off the Airport Rd, Zipper Creek, Nettie Creek, Middle Pass and other closed branch roads. These AMA signs were all posted within the last year by Canfor and CO s. People are deliberately ripping down AMA signs and shooting at the maps with firearms which is not only frustrating but illegal and wastes time and government money.

4 Figure 2: This group was encountered in the Flathead during an AMA patrol and were provided the Outdoor Access Guide and information on AMA s discussed with CO Garay. Figure 3: Shows Extensive ATV use within the East Flathead AMA at Middle Pass. Over the August long weekend, CO Garay received a complaint regarding a large group of ATV'ers riding on the closed AMA trail to Barnes Lake. CO Garay responded and intercepted the group camped at the lake. He issued AMA violation tickets to each ATV operator and gave those 24hrs to be out of the area. The group said they have been riding the trail and camping there each summer for many years. CO s conducted several patrols in the Middle Pass area of the East Flathead AMA in response to extensive ATV abuse on this trail during August. Follow up investigations involving multiple jurisdictions continue in regards to this illegal activity as of the writing of this report. $3,000 was raised from the Fernie Trails Alliance Society, the FLNRO Recreation sites and trail program, and the Sparwood Fish and Wildlife Club. This has resulted in 3,000 new Access Guides being printed in early September. These guides were distributed to various locations for public use.

5 Figure 4: Outdoor Access Guide for Electoral Area A; AMA and non-motorized hiking/nordic trail maps. Figure 5: Recent ATV use in the Middle Pass area of the East Flathead AMA. With the temporary absence of CO Burley, CO s from Fernie and Cranbrook shifted work priorities to help deliver the RDEK AMA program. Many patrols were made, but from mid-august to early October human wildlife conflicts (black and grizzly bear issues) had a significant impact on those officers ability to patrol AMA s. As an illustration of this impact, CO s from Cranbrook and Fernie responded to 3 grizzly bear attacks over a period of 12 days at the beginning of September. In mid-september, a grizzly bear sow attacked a hunter in the Grave Prairie AMA. The hunter was able to walk out to a nearby road where he received transportation to the nearest hospital. The resulting response and investigation by the COS resulted in over 30 hours of officer time within the Grave Prairie AMA. This hasn t been included in the year to date statistics below but shows the impact on resources when public safety priorities occur.

6 Figure 6: CO s close area in Grave Prairie AMA due to a grizzly bear attack. CO s were able to make significant amounts of patrols in October and early November. AMA violations were encountered along with a wide range of hunting and fishing violations. An illegal camp that was established in early September was removed from the Wigwam Flats AMA in late October. Multiple tickets were issued on this file. The monthly AMCEP reports and yearly summaries are now available online for the public to read. They can been viewed on the following website: All CO s time have been added to the 2015 Excel spreadsheet when working on investigations, the Outdoor Access Guide, AMA Reports and field time. The people in the East Kootenay s have such a great opportunity to explore the beauty of the Rockies which provides a variety of recreational experiences. With CO Burley now off on maternity leave, if you have any questions or concerns about the AMA Report or questions you can contact Inspector Caravetta at: RAPP Joe.caravetta@gov.bc.ca The Conservation Officer Service is a public safety provider focussed on natural resource law enforcement and human wildlife conflicts prevention and response. Our Vision: To be a progressive and respected leader in environmental compliance and enforcement, shared stewardship and public safety. The Conservation Officer Service Motto is: Integrity, Service and Protection. Please see the attached Excel 2015 Stats for more detail of the Access Guardian s patrols and outreach efforts from May to November 2015.

7 2015 Results Table 1: Overall results of the 2015 Access Program. Total number of patrols and time spent within each AMA was recorded along with the number of persons contacted, number of charges, warnings and education delivered. *Officer Presence Officer Action Access Management Area Patrols Conducted Hours on Site Contacts Made **Persons Educated Access Warnings Access Charges Other Violations (AMA) Patrols Alexander Creek MU Barnes Lake MU Chauncey Todhunter MU Corbin MU East Flathead MU Galton Range MU Grave Prairie MU Upper Elk Valley MU Upper Flathead MU Upper Wigwam MU Weigert Creek MU Wigwam Flats MU Total: *It should be noted that Officer Presence is calculated as the time Officer(s) were physically present in an AMA and the outreach time provided for presentations, it does not account for travel to or from the areas. **People that are educated are those defined as being encountered by a CO and discussing specific AMA facts and requirements for which the person in question was previously unaware. It should be noted that the AMCEP and general AMA facts are discussed with more than 80% of contacts. Table 2: Overall outreach results provided to the public for the 2015 Access Program. Outreach & Non-AMA Specific Activities # of Events Time spent (hrs) Contacts Made **Persons Educated Access Warnings Access Charges Other Violations General Patrol Attend Complaint School Talk Municipality Talk Community Clubs Committee Groups Other Outreach Total:

8 Table 3: Estimated time spent travelling to various AMAs. Travel time calculated by multiplying travel distance by the number of patrols conducted. (ex: Alexander Creek: Travel distance (1) x Patrols (6) = 6 hrs. of travel time). This is time over and above time spent in the AMA AMA Travel Distance Patrols Travel time (hrs) Alexander Creek 1 hr Barnes Lake 1.5 hrs Chauncey Todhunter 1.3 hrs Corbin 0.67 hrs East Flathead 2 hrs Galton Range 1 hr Grave Prairie 0.75 hrs Upper Elk Valley 1.3 hrs 0 0 Upper Flathead 1 hr 5 5 Upper Wigwam 1 hr 3 3 Weigert Creek 0.83 hrs Wigwam Flats 0.42 hrs Total: Table 4: Summary of 2015 statistics. Filtered numbers are for the months of Aug-Dec. Statistics Total Filtered Officer Time Contacts Access Charges 13 9 Other Violations Warnings 8 6 Educated Tables #3 and #4 include the time spent on the preparation of the slide show presentation, Outdoor Access Guide, follow up paper work, media articles, brochures, enforcement investigation time and phone conversations with questions regarding AMA s. Some AMA s are patrolled more than others. The reason for this is that the CO s respond to the area s with the most complaints and non-compliance. When time permits CO s tried to patrol area s that are remote and haven t been checked for some time.

9 The COS conducted 148 patrols within the Electoral Area A AMAs. These patrols did not only include the Access Guardian, but other CO s from around the East Kootenay Zone and elsewhere in the Province. Officers spent 630 hours within the AMA boundaries alone. The travel time on top of that was hours to get to and from the AMAs. An additional 159 hours were spent providing education to the public and follow up time on investigations. Patrols that took place within the AMA s were by truck, ATV, snowmobile or foot. A total of approximately hours were committed to the AMCEP. The public had reported many AMA activity/violation reports to the COS, which takes additional time to investigate. In 2015 a total of 29 AMA files were investigated by the East Kootenay CO s in Electoral Area A. These violations involve the illegal vehicle operation within the closed boundaries of an AMA. Other violations that were found while in the AMA s were; loaded firearms, improper documentation (hunting licences), hunting out of season, fishing during closed time, illegal possession of wildlife/fish, hunting/fishing without a licence, illegal guiding, fishing with prohibited gear/bait etc. Most Long Weekends were worked for 2015: July, August, September and October. Recommendations The Conservation Officers have the following recommendations: Old faded signs at a number of these access closures need to be updated and/or replaced. That the Barnes Lake access road be deactivated from the creek crossing (located at the present start of the access closure) towards the lake to stop ATV access from crossing the creek and proceeding along the road closure to the Lake Sparwood Rod and Gun club has expressed interested in undertaking this. The gates across some of the closed roads that were destroyed (2 gates at Grave Prairie, north gate on upper wigwam closure, East draw Ewin creek) need to be fixed or replaced. Also as previously suggested any newly planned gates should be located as close to active open roads as possible to discourage the public from damaging the gates. The thought here is if the gates are located where the general public regularly goes by them, it might be more of a deterrence to not destroy the gate if there is a chance the public may see someone doing such and report them. The Weigert Creek trail/road beyond the legal closure should be deactivated to stop ATV access that leads up into the alpine. The alpine area of middle pass creek road on the BC side of the divide be deactivated to prevent ATV and vehicle access from entering BC from Alberta Outreach and education presentations need to be increased in the upcoming year

10 Maps To reduce this document size, AMA maps have not been included in this report. If required, maps of individual AMAs are available from two sources, the Ministry of Environment website: and the Hunting Regulations Synopsis. The hunting synopsis is available in print and online: the maps available from the MOE website are in colour and contain much greater detail. As per the Letter of Agreement, the COS provided monthly AMCEP Reports to the RDEK for review. The monthly and final reports from May to November are now available for the public to view and read at the following website: Contact Information Questions and concern about this report can be forwarded to the COS at the following: RAPP Chart and Summary from Table 5: Summary of statistics of the AMCEP results from 2011 to (Aug - Oct) Patrols Conducted Number of Events Hours on Site Hours on Events (presentations + investigative time) People Educated Contacts Made Access Warning Tickets Access Violation Tickets Other Violation Tickets Travel Time (to/from AMA)