The BC Liberal environment critic is concerned on the province’s direction for protecting caribou.

Kamloops-North MLA Peter Milobar says the government is continually cancelling meetings with stakeholders, particularly in the Peace Region.

“And that’s relating to a lot of unease when it relates to resource extraction companies, when it relates to tourism operators, venture tourism, those types of things. Anyone who uses the backcountry, snowmobile clubs, are really starting to get concerned as to what this might mean.”

Milobar adds the feds would implement protective legislation if the province doesn’t, which he says would likely result in widespread bans on backcountry use.

“I think everyone wants to see B.C. still control areas of B.C., and the fact that the government doesn’t seem to be putting a rush on this just leads to further apprehension within stakeholder groups, within user groups, within resource companies.”

He says he’s met with stakeholders in the past few months; “they all acknowledge that we need to do something to continue to protect caribou habitat, but it has to be done in a logical way. It has to be done based on science, and it has to be done in a way that still enables access and use of the backcountry not just for recreation, but also tourism opportunities and also for resource extraction.”

Caribou populations in B.C. have dropped by more than 50 per cent since the 1990s.