(Keystone) Caribou and Standard Basin Closure in effect next season.

[FernieHawk]

In five years of riding the Revy region, I have never seen any evidence of Caribou in the Alpine or Sub-Alpine, this includes many days at Caribou Basin.

3 years ago, I did see a herd of about 6 caribou standing in the middle of Highway 23 north. I drove up to them at full speed, hammering on the brakes at the last second to see if they would scatter...they didn’t, they just stood there looking at me until I blasted the horn, and then they trotted off the road.

Two weeks ago, I saw a mother and her calf standing in the uphill passing lane near the top of the West side of Kooteney Pass (Salmo-Creston)...they were busy licking the salt from a crack in the road. I drove slowly past with my horn blaring and they didn’t budge an inch...just moved their eyeballs, watching as I passed. Blind curve...highway 3...middle of summer with all the tourists looking at the scenery. My guess is they didn’t make it through the day...road kill.

Snowmobiles have nothing to do with the mortality rate of the Caribou…unless you run one over on the highway on the way sledding

 

[Dobir]

I have only seen caribou once on Frisby and they were walking on the well packed sled trail on the ridge by the green tower....they seemed to like our trail!

 

[barrone]

This is absolutely a joke.
I have personally videoed cariboo while sledding, the video starts with the cariboo slowly and calmly walking towards us. They knew we were there(we stopped quite a ways back to watch them).They actually came towards us for 15 minutes, not scared at all. As we started our sleds and drove off, they barely watched us and continued to eat.
Now, I have also seen Cariboo standing quietly listening to our sleds, and all of a sudden a helicopter carrying skiers comes over the ridge and scares them. I have seen them run like crazy, becasue the noise appears suddenly, it is so loud I can hear it over my running sled with a helmut on, and is on top of them immediatley.
Where are the studies of helicopters affecting cariboo making them run for possibly miles.
I have had choppers buzz by me and scare the crap out of me, I thought an avalanche was coming down, imagine how the cariboo feels.
The money talks and the sledder walks.

I have no issue with heli-skiing, but lets level the playing field.
The money talks and the sledder walks
I am going to look for the video of the cariboo, maybe I can find it, but would it help???

Theres lots of video cameras out on the hills, lets use them to prove what we know.

Great job, snowmobile club, I guess the rest of us have to help you guys out a bit more.

 

[barrone]

Any of you media out there want to step up to the plate and represent the sledding community, an organized, dedicated group that are working hard to hold on to a small area of backcountry, while providing environmental stewardship and millions of dollars of income to small communities . Or will we be all painted with one brush????

 

[barrone]

Here is the closure that has been in effect Jan.1-Apr. 15 each season on Keystone

http://www.revelstokesnowmobileclub.com/pdf/8_5x11keystone_snoclos_rv_poster_081222.PDF

...........and here my friends is the additional closure gov. has put into effect for this comming season.

View attachment 56794

the BCSF has been working with gov. on this for us all and next mo. the club, society and BCSF have a meeting with gov.
Red is closed, Green is open on the maps.

too bad

 

[Fatdaddy]

Does this extend into Trout Lake Riding areas?????

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[LID]

Does this extend into Trout Lake Riding areas?????

Small area, rains a lot.

 

[barrone]

Small area, rains a lot.

YUP. Kind of a pain to get to as well. I remember coming down through the clouds lots.

 

[jaredszakacs]

ya trout lake isnt really worth going to revy is closer and better tough to get a day at trout when it isnt all fogged in or not raining on you

 

[jaredszakacs]

Ther caribou thing is an absolute joke I watched a big thing on the caribou they said in all of BC and the northwest of the states we have a whopping 53 animals left!! Who cares I'm personally not gonna cry if we have no more caribou in the area. I talked to one of the guys on the caribou committee and gave him a piece of sledders minds!! I asked him if they value a few little animals over peoples business surviving and towns starting to boom with tourism in the areas why shut down areas in these small tourist towns over 10 animals in the area. the guy simply said well if snowmobiling and other winter activities get shut down then atleast the tourists can come over and witness a real canadian caribou! Ya cause thats gonna bring thousands of dollars in a day go watch 10 caribou WOW. really whos gonna pay thousands to come see a overgrown deer?? i then asked them how they did there studies they said by walking into areas and flying over others when there is no walk in access So isnt that same or not worse than the heli guys going to there spots. IMO the caribou thing is a major government scam heli skiing is allowed anywere but yet sledding is abig no no. even though all our tracks melt at the end of season!! The highways are more dangerous for the animals then the sleds are! In fact I know are trails make it easier for them to get around ever watched a moose trying to walk through 4 feet of snow? well it isnt pretty same with the caribou they travel 10x as much ground and witout burning have the energy with our sled tracks compared to fresh bottomless snow!! Wake up Government give your head a shake and pull your heads out of the caribous ass

 

[Tuesday]

I have said it before and will say it again. We can only ride 60km or so from the road and there are millions of square miles that are basically inaccessible. Why is that the extremely small riding area adjacent road access is the only place these animals live/mate. What a crock of BS, the greenies want to keep everyone out of everywhere. What is the point of having backcountry if no one can access it.

In Alberta they have the great idea of making majority of the mountain backcountry all "national park" thus majority becomes inaccessible. I dont know many hikers that will hike 100+km round trip.

I am all for preservation but give me a f)(ing break.

 

[Powder Puff]

RSC members do and are working with Trout Lk.

We all know the animals spend the winter where we do snowmobile in Revy and surrounding areas.
Gov. recognizes that the few on Frisby have habituated to snowmobilers.
I heard the other night that any herd that has 10 animals or less will be abandoned now and the areas re-opened to snowmobiling. Also heard of herd transplanting going on. Last yr. it was talk of penning pregnant females and then releasing them a mo. later, the young are known to die in their 1st mo. and I think the most common reason is they fall as prey) Revelstoke was chosen to try this.
For the last 40 yrs. we could have been reporting/recording the size of herds, genders, migrating routes and favorite areas to Gov. but because of over 60% of the areas now closed to snowmobiling and threats of additional closures you are taught to not say a thing. All these areas remain open to heli-skiing.
We are still waiting for Gov.`s decision for the additional closures (Caribou Basin/Standard Basin).
You`d think that with all the areas closed to snowmobiling we wouldn`t even see the animals if we are a threat.
These closures if they are in effect this season should have been printed in the hunting synopsis (sp?) because that is where gov. prints the very vague maps to find them on their website is a challenge also.
The SRS and RSC need to inform the projected 18,000 club members and guests comming to the area this season of the closures, any changes and the importance of their compliance before they get here. Printed matter is produced by the RSC and distributed at the shows, trailheads and local business`s. Signs are put up at trailheads and in the cabins. Maps are added to the SRS`s and the RSC`s websites. When the closures begin the borders are signed and then patrolled by RSC members during the closure periods at again the RSC`s expense. The shows and the season are comming fast and still no news. We were told to expect Gov.`s decision in Sept.

I know it is frustrating. Sometimes it feels like we are set up to fail.

oh and Tuesday, you can only access the backcountry now if you are a tourist.

 

[Powder Puff]

These are pics. taken Apr. 10/05. Five days before the closure areas on Frisby are opened.
This is an open area all yr. and is the only way to ride back along the ridge.
The tower is a well know meeting, eating, socializing, regrouping point.

When our group rode there that day, I noticed the animals and so shoot me, but I took a pic. I like to enjoy wildlife in the the backcountry to with my family.
When I got to the tower in total there we 21 riders there that rode in in smaller groups and stopped. Some hadn`t even noticed the caribou. :d

You can see the animals laying down, the large 1 is Carrie the Caribou she was collared and we would see her for a few yrs. on Frisby with 4 young males, sometimes 5 :d
The females have anterlers in the winter.
More animals joined the ones laying down and then they were on their way.
The last pic. shows you how how far away they are laying down near the snowmobilers. You can see them right in the middle of the pic. through the riders. These are the animals that have habituated to snowmobilers.
The snow melts around the base of the tower sometimes and it looks like they bunk down there to get out of the wind, must be warm to.
You have to watch out for Caribou pee holes in that area, you could break an ankle.

 

[Sofa King much pow]

But can Carrie spell her name in the snow?

 

[Powder Puff]

Yup, LOL. Have to get a pic. of that this yr.

 

[FernieHawk]

Apparently snowmobile closure areas will no longer be included in the Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis…you are required to visit the governments snowmobile web page located at…

Fish and Wildlife - Environment - Province of British Columbia

The latest maps for the Revy area were created on March 15, 2010 and show the closures starting on December 15…we all know the closures were extended to Jan 01 for the last two years…so much for accuracy.

These maps do not include the governments supposed new closures and if these same maps are still posted on the website come Dec 15 or Jan 01, I would imagine those maps would be valid for deciding which areas are open for riding.

If there are differences between signage and website info…from a legal prosecution point of view, would local signage override the info a person gathered from the governments website?

 

[Powder Puff]

Thanks for the info.
You`d hope so, but it hasn`t played out that way in the past when maps, boundaries or signage don`t agree.
We still have not heard back from Gov.
The RSC and SRS`s snowmobile season has started.
There goes an opportunity to inform 10`s of thousands of Snow Show Goers, our 600 club members, the projected 18,000 snowmobilers that will be riding in Revelstoke at Boulder and Frisby and the unknown # of others riding at any of the 6 other snowmobile areas in Revelstoke of any changes to or any additonal Mtn. Caribou Habitat closures.
Memberships are being sold now and it`s SnowShow time.

I heard there aren`t any collored animals in Revelstoke anymore, guess our mascot Carrie the Caribou is gone.

 

[raceu4it]

I heard there aren`t any collored animals in Revelstoke anymore, guess our mascot Carrie the Caribou is gone.[/QUOTE]

Well, I guess now there's grizzlies wandering around with stomach collars.:d

 

[Powder Puff]

.......or wolves or maybe she was one the ones that got run over on Hwy. 23 N this summer.

 

[flabbajabba]

Thanks for the pics!
I was starting to think the mountain caribou was a cousin of the Jackalope.