Sparwood’s Mayor wants the Province to foot the bill for a conservation program in the region.
Cal McDougall wants Victoria to cover the $60,000 annual cost of the Access Management Compliance and Enforcement program.
It has been paid for by the RDEK, Elk Valley municipal governments and the Columbia Basin Trust since it began in 2012.
He says they’ve been relying on local government to pay the bill for too long.
“I still feel that its something that should be funded through the Province, but they aren’t doing it,” McDougall says. “The communities in the Elk Valley are helping to fund this position, but I feel its a very necessary position.”
He feels this is a clear example of the Province passing the buck.
“In our mind, this is a download from the Province. We shouldn’t be funding things like that,” McDougall says. “As a matter of fact, there should be more conservation officers in the area and they should all be funded through the Province.”
McDougall considers the program essential to the region.
Last year, Conservation Officers spent nearly 500 hours patrolling 14 different Access Management Areas for off road vehicle prohibitions in the RDEK’s Electoral Area A, covering 464,000 hectares.
(Photo from the 2017 Access Management Compliance and Enforcement Program report)
– Sparwood Mayor, Cal McDougall
