VICTORIA – In response to the increasing number of cases where wild animals kill livestock or ruin crops, the B.C. Wildlife Federation has introduced a program that gives hunters access to private land.
Known as the Outdoor Passport program, it will bring together farmers and ranchers who are struggling with wildlife and hunters who want to feed their families, said BCWF executive director Patti MacAhonic.
The BCWF expects a good proportion of its 38,000 members will apply for an Outdoor Passport.
When the program was announced Dec. 6, visits to the BCWF’s website jumped to 2,000 per day from the usual 800, said BCWF past-president Mel Arnold.
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The idea was first hatched about five years ago, with a push to complete it in the last two years, MacAhonic said.
Part of that urgency had to do with the “significant amount of money” the provincial government is paying ranchers and farmers for crop and livestock losses due to wildlife under its Agriculture Wildlife Program, Arnold said.
The Agriculture Wildlife Program categories include standing forage, separation for excreta contamination, standing grain, predator compensation as well as regional programs in East Kootenays, Cariboo, Delta and Comox.
Arnold, a hunter who has already applied for an Outdoor Passport, said B.C. producers deal with wildlife challenges such as wolves and bears in the Cariboo, deer and elk in the Kootenays and bison, deer and elk in the Peace.
Because of their own concerns, the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association provided input for Operation Passport.
Arnold is hoping that the checks and balances built into Operation Passport will address landowners’ concerns about having strangers on their property.
“We see Operation Passport as being educational. It’s built on respect to landowners,” said Arnold, who lives in Salmon Arm. “It educates hunters that landowners have the right to say who comes on their property.”
Those applying for Outdoor Passports must be BCWF members, must score 80 percent on a 20-question test and pay a fee.
The passport includes an identity card, which bearers present to landowners, and an access pass, which records conditions necessary to access property. Landowner participation is voluntary.
To address liability concerns, landowners who participate get $2 million third party liability coverage, MacAhonic said.
For more information, visit www.bcwf.bc.ca.
