The B.C. government has relaxed rules for the mining industry to allow exploration companies to log and road-build in designated mountain caribou habitat—habitat that is off-limits to forestry companies. 

Sierra Club BC and other groups are calling on the BC government to modernize B.C.’s antiquated Mineral Tenure Act to ensure that endangered caribou do not lose more critical habitat to development. 

Read our op-ed in the Vancouver Sun.

“We’re shocked to learn that mining exploration companies can log and road-build in endangered mountain caribou habitat without any oversight or cumulative impacts assessment,” said Sierra Club BC Campaigns Director Susan Howatt.   

See our press release. 

Read the Vancouver Sun story.

In 2008, the BC government’s Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan designated 2.2 million hectares in southeast BC as critical habitat for mountain caribou recovery, and put the land off-limits to logging and road-building. In December, the government issued an exception to that rule, giving mining exploration companies permission to log and road-build in caribou habitat--without oversight by a qualified professional or approval from the Environment Ministry.  

Mountain caribou, also known as reindeer, are red-listed (endangered) in B.C. The population of BC mountain caribou --the only type of caribou that subsists in winter on lichens found on mature trees--has declined to about 1,900 animals from 2,500 in 1995. Almost all the world’s remaining mountain caribou—99 percent--are found in B.C.  

Sierra Club BC and other groups are asking BC to follow the lead of other provinces and reform the 125-year-old B.C. Mineral Tenture Act to abolish the “free entry” system, which allows mining companies easy and preferential access to most B.C. land. Updated BC mining legislation must include environmental and First Nations review before any exploration activity is undertaken. 

Learn more about endangered mountain caribou.