CMNS 137 Technical Communication for Water Engineering Technology

In B.C. there is currently one mussel species, Rocky Mountain
Ridged Mussel (Gonidea angulate), that is listed as at-risk by the federal Species at Risk Act
(SARA), and by the provincial government (red-listed). The scope of this document is focused on
the action needed for Rocky Mountain Ridged Mussel conservation.

The Rocky Mountain ridged mussel (Gonidea angulata) is a bivalve species whose Canadian range is limited to the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. In 2019, conflicts between habitat protection for the mussel and potential habitat alteration to control the invasive Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) (milfoil), led to a decision to maintain the status of the mussels as Special Concern under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) rather than classify it as Endangered.

The guidelines were developed to ensure that backcountry recreation activities are conducted in a
manner that does not compromise the current distribution of wildlife, the sustainability of their
populations, or the integrity of their habitats. These guidelines define results, desired behaviours,
indicators, and limits for backcountry activities in relation to wildlife and their habitats.

The provincial mountain caribou science team considered the primary threats to mountain caribou in
British Columbia to be habitat alteration (primarily from forest harvesting and wildfire) and increased
mortality from predators, mainly as a result of habitat changes favouring other ungulates and their
predators (MCST 2005). Secondary threats include disturbance from winter backcountry recreation,
which may disturb and displace caribou from otherwise preferred habitat. Climate change and disease are
other factors that are currently poorly understood, but may also influence the viability of mountain
caribou herds. Several of the herds are now critically imperilled and could become extirpated within the
next 10 years unless significant recovery and conservation efforts are undertaken.

Mountain Caribou and snowmobilers share much of the same terrain in late winter within the Interior Wet
Belt of east-central and southeastern British Columbia, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington. The
rarity of Mountain Caribou and the expansion in both numbers and capability of snowmobiles have raised
concerns that snowmobile activity may have negative effects on caribou, such as physiological impacts,
increased exposure to dangerous terrain, and displacement or range abandonment. This report examines
two types of information, with the goal of increasing our knowledge on the potential relationships
between snowmobiling and caribou. It (1) summarizes the observations of a sample of snowmobilers,
wildlife managers and others with experiences relevant to the topic, and (2) examines late-winter caribou
survey data in relation to mapping of snowmobile-use areas, to determine whether there has been any
decrease over time in the proportion of surveyed caribou groups occurring within snowmobiling areas.

Under the Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan, scientists recommended over one million hectares across the mountain caribou range be closed to motorized winter recreation to facilitate recovery of caribou populations. Since 2009, government has closed areas to snowmobile use across the Mountain Caribou range in order to support population recovery. The maps below show the areas open to snowmobiling and areas closed under the Wildlife Act. These maps can be viewed and downloaded. Maps are georeferenced PDFs so they can be used in mobile applications to determine your location relative to boundaries, open riding areas and trails.

The Revelstoke, Salmon Arm, South Shuswap and Sicamous chambers of commerce have released a petition calling on the province to halt the negotiation process for the caribou protection plan until more consultation is done.