On the ground, in the water, and through the air, the conservation officer (CO) Service is having a busy transition from fall into winter. Local CO Blake Knibbs is with the Nechako Lakes Zone unit. He said one of the key issues right now is still bears. Don鈥檛 be fooled by the snow on the ground.
鈥淲e still have a few bears kicking around, so make sure your garbage is secured,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he fruit is gone, now, but keep the garbage properly secured.鈥�
Hibernation is not a complete coma. Bears will often step out of the den for a snack, even if they are sleeping most of the time. They come out even more if they aren鈥檛 in their deep winter phase.
鈥淭he thing about bears is, if they know they have a food source, they won鈥檛 actually hibernate,鈥� Knibbs explained. 鈥淚f their consistent food source is giving them more calories than they are losing from being out and about, they simply just won鈥檛 hibernate. That鈥檚 why securing attractants is such an important part of our job, because A) it鈥檚 public safety, but B) it is also making sure the bears are getting a fair shake at life.鈥�
It has been 鈥渁 pretty average year鈥� for conflicts between humans and wildlife in this area, he said.
Conflicts between humans and COs has also been average. There have been some notable enforcement files started, but Knibbs was not at liberty to discuss them in detail, yet, as prosecution was still in early stages.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been everything from unlawful possession of wildlife, to having a firearm without a PAL [Possession and Acquisition License], which has been a somewhat frequent one, lots of cases.鈥�
What occupies a large amount of CO service time lately, he said, is air quality situations.
鈥淟ately there have been tonnes of fire files,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 people burning slash piles when the venting is poor. We鈥檙e trying to figure out a way to educate people. And it鈥檚 not just one person, we have a lot of cases of people burning when they鈥檙e not supposed to be. So we need to familiarize people with the open burning smoke control regulations.鈥�
Slash pile fires must be no closer than 100 metres from any dwellings or buildings of value, and the venting must be fair to good, on the air quality index for that area, that day. Piles must also be stacked properly.
鈥淎 lot of people right now are using cats (bulldozers) and making big windrows,鈥� Knibbs said. 鈥淛ust by physics, if you have a taller pile (as opposed to a long windrow) it is going to burn a lot better. Make sure those piles are stacked properly: tall, not a snake-looking thing. And the wood has to be seasoned, right, so you鈥檙e not burning green wood. 鈥�
Smoke enveloping a large area can be hard on residents with compromised breathing. Many have called in to complain when the weather was wrong for large fires. Venting conditions must be adhered to when starting a fire.
Open Smoke Burning Control Regulation, including smoke sensitivity zones and much more.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/air/air-pollution/smoke-burning/regulations/openburningregula
Venting index, updated daily.
https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/venting/
