The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 31, 2000 - A5

lologist suspended for criticizing gov't

The ministry of environment has silenced Terrace habitat biologist Dionys de Leeuw for circulating a

controversial report he wrote on the declining g

AN URGENT warning thal
grizzly bears are being
overhunted and are head-
ing for extinction was what
prompted the enviranment
ministry to suspend a Ter-
race habitat biologist,
Dionys de Leeuw last

- November circulated ‘with:

in the ministry his report
Grizzly Overkill In British

Columbia. Bear~Manage-

ment.
Copies of the report

were retrieved and mini--

stry officials last month
suspended ‘de Leeuw. for
two weeks without pay.

It was the third ‘time

‘he's been disciplined for.

wriling ‘and’ circulating. a
report critical of ‘ministry
policy; © -

The 38-page paper, ob-°

lained by the Sierra. Club
linder a freedom of infor-
‘mation request, urges the

-province -to ban all sport

hunting of grizzlies until at
least 2017 and possibly
until well after 2050,

id Z
Dionys de Leeuw

De Leeuw says that’s
necessary because, if his
projections are correct that
the grizzly population has
fallen between 4,000 to
8,000 bears, it will take 20
to 50 years for the number
of bears to climb back to
the historical population

estimate of 13,000,

“A conclusion of griz-
aly bear overkill, based on
the Wildlife Program's
own standards, is inescap-
able,” he said,

De Leeuw. starts with
eslimates: of the. number. of
grizzlies in 1965 ranging
between 10,000 and
14,000. oO

*-~Based*an’ a replacement

rate of. 4.12 per cent, and

. Subtracting. the number of

bears legally killed and
adding another 50 per cent
to take in unreported ‘kills,
he ‘ends up with estimates
of the current population.

“A conclusion of
grizzly bear overkill,
based on the Wildlife
Program’s own stan-
dards, is inescap-
able” oe

~ Dionys de Leeuw

The numbers vary wide-
ly. .

If the population was
14,000 in 1965 the current
population is estimated to
be around 11,381 = down
somewhat but close -to
stable, ae

By contrast, if. there
were 10,000 bears in 1965,
the projection suggests the
number of remaining bears
may have fallen as low as
893, mo
Even taking the middle
scenaria, based on 11,000
or 12,000 bears in 1965, he
concludes the population
has been reduced: to be-
tween 4,000 and 8,000
bears.

“The trends are not en-
couraging,” he states. “A
continued kill rate of 536
grizzlies per year — the
average annual. kill rate
from 1965 to 1997 ~ is cal-
culated to bring the entire
B.C. grizzly bear popula-
tion to extinction in about

“mans, -

——

rizzly bear

pop

RT AS oe

A new controversial report states B.C.'s grizzly bear population complete ban on alt sport hunting of grizzlies until at least 2017,

ulation in British Columbia.

z

has fallen to between 4,000 to 8,000 bears. The report calls fora. when bear numbers have a chance to escalate.

12 years.”

Overkill is likely hap- ,

‘count to keep the grizzly
bear kill down to a sus-

pening because of either a,, tainable level of 300 bears

lack of control of the num-
ber of bears killed by hu-
» Of ‘because the
ministry is using popula-
tion- estimates that are-tao
high in justifying the cur-

rent hunt tevel, he. said.

- De Leeuw says the pro-
vincial government repeat-
edly stated to the public il
intends to harvest conser-
vatively and take changing
public interests into ac-

per year or less and- to

allow. a total kill- of no.

more than 4 or 5 per cent
af current population. esti-
mates,” - —
“Throughout the entire
33 years from 1965 to 1997
government
realized any of these ob-
jectives,” he said,’“In-ef-
fect, government’ has’ pub-
licly, stated one thing and
doiie’ another.” toh ver

has. never
-has declined and unless

~« De Leeuw: concludes

Hayden Atkinson, Allen Goosemans, Lina Gasser and Peter Koch listen to a spelling

lesson. The- four

francophone grade one and grade two students, along with the kindergarten class, make up one of the

two split classes at Jack Cook elementary school. The grade thre

other split class.

mWay to
twirl! —

The grade three, grade
four and grade five

students at Terrace's
only francophone

school, Jack Cook Ele-

mentary, practice their
ribbon. dance for tha
school’s second anni-
versary celebration,
June 2. The students
will be part of a musical
presentation for parents,
teachers and students.

e to grade seven students make up the

“It has placated the
B.C. public, who don’t
want the hunt to continue,
while simultaneously -ca-
(ering to an extreme min-
ority “of © grizzly bear
hunters.”

“Asa direct conse-
quence of overkill, the
British Columbia grizaly
bear population as a whole

ernment

drop.

immediate sleps are taken,
will ‘continue ta decline,”
he said. further

. declines.”

| Jack Cook

that by allowing the hunt
level it has the B.C. gov-
has
chances to manage bears |
more conservatively and is
dangerously close to caus-
ing a major population

“It is risky because with
such a regime there is no
- room for error, there is no
‘conservation’ buffer,” he
said. “Any minor mistakes
are most likely to result in
population

It’s also financially
foolish, he adds, because
to responsibly maximize
the hunt would require
much more money he
spent gathering more ac-
curate population - esti-
males.

“AL a time when gov-
ernment agencies such as
the Wildlife Branch are’
having to make drastic
budget cults, managing the
grizzly bear hunt to the
extreme is fiscally irre-
sponsible.”

celebrates

missed

second anniversary

By SARAH GLEN
PAST THE rows of small boots, sandals
and running shoes that line the cubby
holes on the far wall and behind the pad-
ded office chairs on a counter by the win-
dow, is a small white card stuck neatly to
a plastic tray.

Big, round letters printed on the card
in red marker read: Objers perdu.

Lost objects.

The tray is half full — exercise work-
books, a pencil and some other miscel-
lancous school supplies poke through the
plastic mesh.

The card is one of many atlached to
random objects around the school - a
learning tool you might see in other ele-
mentary schools, but with. a twist: all la-
bels are in French only.

And that’s when you notice you've cn-
tered a francophone school.
~ Nestled off Graham Avenue, Jack

Cook elementary school is a pioneer of

sorts, bringing francophone education to
students in Terrace and the surrounding
district.

‘And it’s calching on,

The school is nearing its second birth-
day on June 2 and in that shart time has
almost doubled its student enrolment.

This. year the school is teaching 23
students from kindergarten to grade five

’ (grade ‘six and seven are available, the
-school just doesn’t have any students in

those grades), offering students with a
French background a chance to learn in a
French-only environment.

Monique Richard, who has two child-
ren cnfolled at Jack Cook clementary,
was one of the parents who helped bring
the francophone school ta Terrace.

The parents were told by the Franco-
phone school board that they needed at
least 10 students to start the francophone
school... , woe

“We. slarled small but:now we have
grown and, hopefully, will-continue to
grow,” said Richard,

Up until grade four, when an English
course ‘is offered, students - take all
courses in French, offering something dif-
ferent from nearby primary school Kiti
K'Shan's French immersion program,
which offers French educalion in.a predo-.
minantly English environment.

But the twa schools don’t compete.
Connected by a parking lot, the schools’
ure alsa linked by something more ~ a
common goal ta teach’ their students
French, as

They just opt.to do it in different ways.

“We were part of Kiti K'Shan [primary
school} before we moved ‘here [lo the
school’s new building], We don’t want lo

be separate; we learn together,” said
Joanne Langlois, teacher and vice-princi-
pal of the school.

The school is run independently from
the rest of Coast Mountain school district
#82 schools, receiving its curriculum and
funding from the Francophone school
board in Vancouver, ,

But even though it’s independent from
school district. #82, the Francophone
school district and its English counterpart
struck a deal to share the district's school
buses.

That means the francophone students
can gel to school no matter how far away
they live.

“(The deal] allows us to bring in stu-
dents from everywhere - Jackpine Flats,
or even Kleanza,” said Langlois.

Teacher Kim Barriere is working.on a.
ribbon dance with her class for. the ‘anni-
versary celebration.

Spinning and twirling blue, red, yel-
low and green ribbons, the grade- three to
grade five students are almost ready. for
their performance. ,

“We just need to work oul the middle
part,” said Barriere.

Langlois rattles off the events planned
for the school’s up-coming anniversary,
talking about the various events like a
proud parent.

“The students are going to sing, dance,
play piano, and play drums. We'll invite
the parents and there’tl -be dessert,” she .
said,, ,

With about a dozen students 'in each
class (ane class is kindergarten to: prade
two, the other is grade three to grade
seven) the close-knit, family-orientated
environment is hard to. avoid.

“We are like a family,” said Langlois,

Unlike the French immersion program
across the parking lot, kindergarten runs a
full day at the school, giving the four,
five and six year olds about three hours
more to absorb and practice French.

And being placed in a large classroom
with grade ones and grade twos, the kin-
dergarten students hear advanced
French, helping them learn the language
faster, said Langlais.

“You'll be surprised at how £
kindergarten kids pick up the lat H
said Langlois. “It’s good to have the split
classes. The older students help the
younger ones and the younger ones give
the older students a sense of responsibil-
ity.”

The anniversary celebration will take
place June 2 at 7 pm and those interested
can contact the school for more informa-
tion. es