With the fall sitting in the B.C. Legislature approaching, wildlife conservation is a top priority for Kootenay-East MLA Tom Shypitka.
“The wildlife file is something I’ve been working on quite diligently over the last seven years,” he said.
“It’s one of my top three priorities in this region because it is so niche to the East Kootenay.”
He said there has been some encouraging news of late but many of our wildlife populations have seen a decline.
“We were once called the Serengeti of North America, but sadly that is no longer,” he added.
“We’ve seen a decrease in population. There has been some positive news. We have seen some of those populations start to come back a little bit but everything is cyclical and you don’t know what the future holds.”
He said he will most likely be bringing the issue up again in the legislature.
“I have put a private members bill forward in the house twice and I’m sure it will be a third time here in the fall on establishing an independent funding model for wildlife,” he said.
“Money could be streamed in from all different sources of revenue, whether that is industry, philanthropy or user fees.”
The fall sitting of the legislature will begin on Oct. 3.
