Revelstoke is a beautiful community surrounded on all sides by amazing wilderness. With this pristine location comes the inevitable conflict between humans and wildlife. An adequately managed conservation program can reduce the number of these conflicts by educating the local community, enforcing legislation designed to protect people and animals alike and responding to conflicts in a timely manner.

The local national parks of Mt Revelstoke & Glacier are an example of where wildlife management programs comprising of research, collaring and tracking, review of movements and sightings, distributing and enforcing warnings for areas of high bear activity, closing problem areas as required alongside relocation and additional bear management strategies, can minimize the potential conflicts between people and bears to ensure everyone can coexist safely.

Revelstoke previously had conservation officers located in town, however after staff retirements, the decision was made and repeatedly confirmed, that Revelstoke would no longer have a local CO and would require response from officers located in Golden and Vernon.

Today, we hear of another bear killed in the downtown core of Revelstoke, at least the 2nd this season. This is a scene that cannot continue to be repeated. Not only is this poor management of the resources that abound in Revelstoke, but the tourists who come to Canada and Revelstoke to enjoy the outdoors, perhaps with the hope of viewing wildlife in it's natural surroundings, are caught up in the scene of a bear being killed the center of our city for lack of a better option. With the ever increasing number of tourists visiting the, these events will only increase in frequency.

In addition to bear management, a CO with time and a commitment to the greater Revelstoke area can also again enforce hunting and poaching legislation to ensure fair and appropriate hunting practices are followed nearby.

As the BC Minister of the Environment, we cordially request that you again consider the reintroduction of a Conservation Officer to Revelstoke or at the very least, explore other options to place trained wildlife management specialists, perhaps in partnership with other organizations nearby, within Revelstoke.

Below are some relevant articles further outlining concerns and issue relating to bear and wildlife management in Revelstoke:

http://www.revelstokecurrent.com/2015/05/13/we-need-a-conservation-officer-in-revelstoke-call-the-rapp-line-to-report-bear-conflicts/

http://www.revelstokereview.com/news/236825701.html

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/291085671.html?mobile=true

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/386860051.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/revelstoke-bear-up-tree-draws-crowd-gets-soft-landing-1.2787907

http://revelstoke.myezrock.com/News/story.aspx?ID=2186328