Consultation excludes any mention of protected habitat for spotted owl

VANCOUVER / UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh AND səlilwətaɬ TERRITORIES — The Wilderness Committee is calling out the BC Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport for inviting people to comment on an expression of interest for the proposed Bridal Veil Mountain Ski Resort located near Chilliwack, without informing participants it threatens protected spotted owl habitat. 

The proposed ski resort has gondola routes that cut right through Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA) 2-501 at Elk Creek, 2,590 ha designated by the province in March 2011 as protected Long Term Owl Habitat Area (LTOHA).

“This really gets me hot under the collar. The province sends you to their Mountain Resorts Branch website for more information, but it doesn’t tell you about the threats to the Elk Creek spotted owl WHA which is a critical future refuge for captive-raised owls,” fumed Protected Areas Campaigner Joe Foy. “It's a massive snow job to make the public think everything is okay — but it's not OK to mess with endangered species habitat.”

The spotted owl is the most endangered bird species in Canada with only one wild-born and several captive born owls thought to exist in the wild. The owl's numbers have been driven towards extinction — from an estimated 500 breeding pairs to zero pairs in the wild — because their forest habitat has been gutted by decades of industrial logging.

The provincial government maintains a captive-breeding facility that currently houses more than 30 captive raised spotted owls and has designated WHAs like 2-501 at Elk Creek. These are critical for the release of captive-bred spotted owls to restore the population to healthy numbers once again. The government of Canada is about to publish its finalized Spotted Owl Recovery Strategy that includes mapped critical habitat and relies on the captive release program to restore the species to health.

“The feds are decades behind in releasing this strategy, and when they finally get it done, the province works in the opposite direction destroying the habitat faster than they can protect it,” said Foy. 

“How can you fund a captive-breeding program and declare it a solution to recover this species but at the same time hide the fact you are destroying its habitat?” asks Joe Foy.

The online call for public engagement is open from now until February 28, 2025. It provides a map of the project that doesn’t make it clear the impact on the WHA or spotted owl. The Wilderness Committee is calling on the provincial government to scrap the project, and demanding the Mountain Resorts Branch provide the public accurate maps and information that clearly show the impacts on spotted owl habitat and WHA 2-501 at Elk Creek.

“This project can’t go ahead at the expense of spotted owl habitat, full stop,” said Foy. “People need to be given a fair chance to have their opinion heard and that means being informed about spotted owl restoration efforts and the risk this plan poses. Once informed, I believe most people will say no to this unacceptable project,” said Foy.

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For more information, please contact:

Joe Foy | Protected Areas Campaigner, Wilderness Committee 
(604) 880-2580, joe@wildernesscommittee.org

Additional resources:

Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Program

Spotted Owl Recovery Strategy

Map of Proposed Bridal Veil Mountain Resort overlap with Wildlife Habitat Area (WHA) 2-501 at Elk Creek

Image of Northern Spotted Owl by Jared Hobbs

Proposed Bridal Veil Mountain Ski Resort threatens endangered spotted owl