BC’s independent forestry watchdog says the fisher population west of Quesnel is at high risk of decline or even elimination.
A Forest Practices Board began its investigation after a complaint from two trappers in the Nazko region.
The Nazko area was decimated by the Mountain Pine Beetle which led to widespread salvage logging in the complainants’ trapping area between 2002 and 2017.
The trappers complained to the FPB that the logging severely impacted the habitat for fishers and other fur-bearing animals.
The Forest Practices Board says the government failed to take steps to ensure protection of fisher habitat and licensee efforts were insufficient given the unprecedented scale of salvage logging.
The FPB is also worried that unplanned salvage logging of the area which was hit hard by 2017 wildfires could make a dire situation worse.
The Board wants the the province address fisher habitat needs, work to restore the population, and to ensure that any future large-scale salvage logging be coordinated to address habitat needs.
