Destruction and invasion

There was a time when there were more bighorn sheep in the Okanagan than there were humans. Early in history humans routinely abused sheep populations through direct kill and self serving, uncaring invasion and occupation of  their habitat. Now sheep populations and range are dramatically shrunken, increasingly fractured and still livestock co-opt ranges and bring disease, native poaching and questionable hunting pressure picks away at populations and intensive recreation is an escalating threat. The sheep population occupying the lands from Penticton to near Vaseaux counts fewer than 70 animals that somehow hang on; humans now outnumber bighorns in the Skaha-Penticton area over five hundred to one. Even the permissive BC government considers sheep here “at risk”.

We cant undo most of this damage (some, yes), but the selfish thinking and actions we’re seeing from city managers as justification for “bringing the Skaha bluffs into the city” is an absurd land grab amounting to gross arrogance and negligence and will only accelerate and aggravate this precarious wildlife conservation situation.

Not withstanding the severe ecological impacts of this land grab and development, there are ominous and consistent ethical violations involved when elected people fail their public trust duty and private businesses consume vastly more than their share of public value. Proposing a 180 house subdivision for Skaha amounts to a subtle and institutionalized form of animal abuse, a slow form of “pulling the trigger” by starving bighorns out of land and space. Like every other variation of animal abuse, it reflects a long history and smug entitlement by government and corporate development interests to dominate not just wildlife and the space they need, but citizens too, under the guise of the dark shroud of “progress”.

If the city and its special projects manager were being honest about expanding Skaha Bluffs Park, or if they cared even a whit about bighorn sheep, they would conjure up some backbone and initiate a process to have the province acquire the land and add it outright to nearby Skaha Park. That would be in the public interest. It would also guarantee given a wise management plan, public access to parts of the bluff.

The deception that “we” (of course, it means them) have to destroy most of the ecological landscape and dramatically expand the human impact into the surrounding area, to allegedly protect a small portion of the land in question, is deceptive, manipulative, and frankly, dishonest. This is pure developer propaganda coming from “our” city pubic service.

Citizens can still kill this terrible plan; Write the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Hon. Selina Robinson ([email protected]) ask her to insist on a referendum or to simply kill it outright for conservation reasons; send a letter copy to each board member, Regional district of Okanagan Similkameen ([email protected]); ask them to reverse their ill considered decision.

Dr. Brian L. Horejsi