A Slocan Valley bear biologist wants a logging company to spare a tree that he says shows all the signs of being a bear den. He wants them to leave a strip in their cutblock and move the planned location of a road.

But Wayne McCrory says the company, Yucwmenl煤cwu (Caretakers of the Land), owned by the Splatsin First Nation located near Enderby, has refused to move the road.

The cutblock is located in the Valhalla Range just north of Valhalla Park and Slocan Lake.

害羞草研究所淚 was hoping that they would be more amenable to this,害羞草研究所� McCrory told the Star, 害羞草研究所渆specially when they [initially] phoned me asking for input.害羞草研究所�

He said the company told him they would try to save the den tree but might have to 害羞草研究所渟tub害羞草研究所� it to make it safe by WorkSafe BC rules. Then they would cap it so a bear might be able to use it later.

McCrory said it may be only one tree, but it害羞草研究所檚 symbolic. Den trees only exist in old growth and he estimates that 80 per cent of the old growth forest in the Slocan Valley has been logged.

害羞草研究所淭his is symbolic of what is wrong with our resource management policies today when you don害羞草研究所檛 protect high biodiversity areas like this,害羞草研究所� he said. 害羞草研究所淲hether you stand up for one tree or many 害羞草研究所� or you stand up for one grizzly that was wrongly killed or the whole population, it is the same principle.害羞草研究所�

Yucwmenl煤cwu has not returned the Star害羞草研究所檚 calls or emails requesting comment.

McCrory was instrumental in pushing for the 2016 Great Bear Rainforest legislation that includes a provision that bear dens should be surrounded by a 30-metre buffer and no road construction.

What he害羞草研究所檚 recommending here is 害羞草研究所渓eave a strip 40 metres wide and 200 meters long, not a very big area. It mostly means moving the road. Having built lots of mining company roads, I don害羞草研究所檛 see the problem. It is not like we are asking them not to log or not to salvage, it is just moving things a bit to accommodate.害羞草研究所�

He said he害羞草研究所檚 been tracking and attempting to protect grizzly bear dens and old-growth black bear dens for the past 40 years and is now trying to get legislation that would apply outside of protected areas.

害羞草研究所淲hat I am talking about is not an economic threat to logging companies per se, it is just encompassing new knowledge and new information into more ecosystem-friendly logging, as has happened on the coast.害羞草研究所�