The Golden District Rod and Gun Club will get $63,580 to continue their work to enhance elk’s winter range in the Upper Kicking Horse Canyon.
Funding comes from the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and Forest Enhancement Society of BC.
“We’re trying to do the best we can as a small club to look after the wildlife in our region,” said project lead Brian Gustafson. “Elk are a really important and focal species for our region, so we’re just doing what we can for the future of our wildlife populations.”
The ongoing project aims to enhance 112 hectares of ungulate habitat, including species such as Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer.
“We started out this project by establishing some plots in the area we were planning to treat,” explained Gustafson. “As we move through it, we’re doing some manual work in there to thin out the forest and open some of the canopy.”
Gustafson said this will make navigating the dense forest easier for ungulate species while helping ground-level plants grow.
“The young forest is extremely thick, so it’s hard to walk through and it’s hard to detect predators from a long distance. It also restricts sunlight from hitting the forest floor,” said Gustafson. “By thinning the forest, we’re allowing that light to hit the ground to get grass and shrubs to grow and increase the ability for elk to detect predators in the forest.”
The project also builds on previous work the club did over 30 years ago.
“Our club members treated it in the ’80s, so it’s kind of a legacy project for us. We’re coming back and doing some work to make sure this area continues to be a really productive area for elk.”
This project is one of 167 fish and wildlife conservation projects across the province, which will split over $8 million between them.