An alliance of environmental groups is accusing the B.C. government of not protecting enough of the critical habitat of the Vancouver Island marmot, the real-world counterpart of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games' mascot Mukmuk.
The groups, including the Wilderness Committee and Ecojustice, say that if the government does not take action to protect more of the habitat, as well as that of 42 other species at risk, they will take it to court.
"The government pays lip service to supernatural B.C. It markets to the world the incredible biodiversity that we have and our amazing wildlife, but when push comes to shove, they actually aren't taking action to protect it," said Gwen Barlee, the Wilderness Committee's policy director, in an interview with ctvbc.ca.
The photogenic rodent, which is about the size of a pet cat, is one of the most high-profile endangered species in Canada. The marmot's numbers dipped to only a few dozen animals by the end of the 1990s due to habitat loss.
But the provincial government says it has spent $1.8 million since 2001 on a captive breeding program that has helped boost the marmot population, and that the marmots are being released into known historic habitat that is not threatened.
According to the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Foundation, the program has increased the marmot population from approximately 30 marmots in the wild in 2003 to between 230 and 260 marmots in the wild today.
"It's strange that certain groups are focusing on the Vancouver Island marmot as a negative story," Environment Minister Barry Penner told ctvbc.ca.
Environmental groups agree that the captive breeding program has been effective, but they say it's not enough.
Devon Page, the Executive Director of Ecojustice, told ctvbc.ca that recently released internal government documents show that government officials have been aware of critical habitats that the marmot and other species at risk need to survive for at least two years.
The federal and provincial governments are not following through on their obligations under the Species at Risk Act, which requires them to identify and protect the marmot's critical habitat as part of a recovery plan, Page said.
Susan Pinkus, a biologist with Ecojustice, told ctvbc.ca that increased protection of the marmot's critical habitat is important in light of the history of the marmot's decline.
During the 1990s, the marmot population dipped to critical levels, in part because of clearcut logging around the sub-alpine meadows in which marmots live. Marmots mistook clearcuts, where they are more vulnerable to predators, for meadows.
Pinkus also mentioned a report published by the B.C. government in 2008 that indicated that a significant portion of the marmot's historical habitat is in the hands of privately-owned logging companies.
But Victoria Jackson, the Executive Director of the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Foundation, said while marmots have been impacted by clearcuts in some parts of the Island, their populations have also declined in pristine habitats because of increased predator-prey ratios.
She said a wild marmot colony survived in Mt. Washington in the midst of a ski development, which helped protect it from predators.
"I am completely in support of endangered species legislation and critical habitat legislation, but if we, right now, spent our resources on establishing, on going through, and identifying critical habitat for the Vancouver Island marmot, it would not save one marmot," Jackson said to ctvbc.ca.
Jackson says the government's captive breeding program and the release of marmots into protected areas, including meadows in Strathcona Provincial Park, are enough to allow the rodents to recover.
Penner said the provincial government will set up a task force soon to assess the government's policies towards the marmot and other species at risk.
