Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician
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September 11, 2020 Town of Peace River PO Box 6600 9911 – 100 Street Peace River, AB T8S 1S4 Dear Chris: RE: Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician For the last four years, a Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician with the Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch has been working in Northern Sunrise County and the surrounding Peace River region. This position has been fully funded by the County. We are enclosing the reports from Jennor Stein, the technician who has been doing this work for the past four seasons, to make you aware of this program and the work that has been done in the area. Northern Sunrise County has made the difficult decision to discontinue funding this program due to financial constraints. We understand that statistics may change in the future when the program is no longer funded, but there is still the option available to contact Fish and Wildlife for wildlife control. Sincerely, Cindy Millar Chief Administrative Officer Northern Sunrise County Enclosures c: Birch Hills County Clear Hills County County of Northern Lights MD of Fairview MD of Peace MD of Smoky River and Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch 3rd Floor, Provincial Building Solicitor General 9621-96 Avenue, Bag 900-26 Peace River, Alberta T85 1T4 Telephone: 7804524-6405 Fax: 780-62446455 August 24, 2020 Sebastien Dutrisac 135 Sunrise Road Bag 1300 Peace River, AB T83 IY9 On August 24, 2020 I concluded my fourth season as a Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician with the Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch in the Peace River District, a position that was fully funded by Northern Sunrise County. For the duration of the summer, the majority of complaints that stemmed from Northern Sunrise County and surrounding areas were nuisance black bears. These nuisance bears were frequenting bee yards, improperly stored human garbage, agricultural waste, storage bins, and in some cases, natural food sources that were located near residences. In most cases, providing information regarding proper attractant storage and removal methods was enough to prevent a nuisance bear from becoming habituated to humans and turning into a problem bear. In cases where the circumstances required removal of the bear, culvert traps were utilized to achieve this objective. As a Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician I also investigated predator compensation claims and euthanized injured wildlife. Time spent on each call varied and was dictated by distance and complexity. This year was relatively slow for predator compensation claims in and around Northern Sunrise County. As was discussed at the start of my employment, I tracked my hours spent on complaints within each municipality. The pie chart below shows the majority of my time was spent dealing with complaints within Northern Sunrise County, while still utilizing my position in other surrounding municipal districts. Hours Spent in Each Municipal District Between May 1, 2020 and August 24, 2020 6% I M.D. Fairview 37% I Northern Sunrise County 27%3 Northern Lights County 13%: Clear HillsCounty 1% I Birch Hills County 8% I Town Of Peace River 8% I MD. of Smoky River 2% I MD. ofPeace Classification: Protected A On behalf of the Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch, I would like to thank yourself and Northern Sunrise County for your continued support of this program that allowed me to conduct problem wildlife duties within Northern Sunrise County and the surrounding Peace River area. Sincerely, Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician Classification: Protected A and Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch S0llC|tOf- - General 3rd Floor, Provincial Building - 962186 Avenue, Bag 90025 Peace River, Alberta T85 1T4 Telephone: 780624-6405 Fax: 780-6246455 October 21, 2019 Sebastien Dutrisac 135 Sunrise Road Bag 1300 Peace River‘,AB T83 1Y9 This was my third season employed as a Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician with the Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch in the Peace River District, which is a position fully funded by Northern Sunrise County. This summer we saw a high number ofcomplaints related to nuisance black bears within the M.D. ofNor1hern Sunrise County and surrounding areas. These complaints resulted from bears getting into bee yards, stored grain and natural food sources; however, the majority ofthe complaints involved bears getting into attractants such as human food or garbage. This type of situation often causes black bears to become habituated and they can lose their fear of humans, resulting in human wildlife conflicts, at which point it becomes necessary for our department to take action. Over the period from May 1 to August 31 there were 119 wildlife complaints reported to the Peace River office. Of these complaints, approximately 52 were located within Northern Sunrise County. These complaints varied in nature from a phone call regarding a sighting ofwildlife close to a home, injured wildlife or a bear eating garbage. As a result, some complaints required more time and effort than others. There were also three wildlife predator compensation claim investigations, conducted within the M.D ofN0rthem Sunrise County, in which livestock had been attacked or killed by a predator and the claimant was eligible for compensation. Below is a pie chart that outlines the number of wildlife complaints within the MD of Northern Sunrise County and the surrounding municipalities in the Peace River Region. As shown on the chart, the MD ofNor’thern Sunrise County contained considerably more complaints than other municipalities. Number of Complaints for each Municipal District between May 1 and August 31, 2019. I Birch Hills County I Clear Hills County Vi MD ofFairview I MD. of Peace River I M.D. of Smoky River I M.D. 0fOpportunity I Northern Lights County I Northern Sunrise County I Town of Peace River As was discussed, I also tracked my hours spent on various complaints within each municipality. The pie chart below shows that the majority of my time was spent dealing with complaints within the Municipal District of Noithem Sunrise County. Hours spent in each Municipal District between May 1 and August 31, 2019 4% 5% 4% 4% 1% 46% 20% 12% I Birch Hills County - Clear Hills County it iVl.DofFairview I M.D. of Peace River I M.D. of Smoky River I M.D. of Opportunity I Northern Lights County - Northern Sunrise County - Town of Peace River On behalf of the Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch, I would like to thank yourself and Northern Sunrise County for your continued support of this program that allows me to conduct problem wildlife duties within the M.D of Northern Sunrise County and surrounding Peace River area. Sincerely, Jennor Stein Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician Mr. Dutrisac September 12, 2018 Northern Sunrise County I would like to express my gratitude to yourself and the Northern Sunrise County for again sponsoring a four month Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician position here in Peace River. This position not only supports the Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch with problem wildlife complaints and initiatives throughout the summer, within the Northern Sunrise County and beyond, but also provides the seasonal employee with invaluable experience that contributes to his or her future employment whether it is with the Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch or some other employer. Over recent years the Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch has hired numerous persons that have worked in these Seasonal Problem Wildlife Technician positions into Fish and Wildlife Officer positions throughout the Province. This year in 2018 we were very fortunate to have Jennor Stein return to us here in Peace River. Jennor has now returned to Lethbridge Community College for the 2018/2019 school year and is entering into his third year of the Conservation Enforcement Degree Program. Since he was employed in this same position last year, Jennor’s return was virtually seamless because of his knowledge of the area and the people. From May through August Jennor directly dealt with sixty-four problem wildlife related complaints and was indirectly involved with many more. Thirty-three of these complaints involved black bears, which in form or another, were causing a public safety concern in both the rural and agriculture areas. The primary goal is to ensure public safety and protection of property, therefore many of these bears were captured and either relocated or euthanized depending upon their habituation to humans. Thirteen complaints were associated to livestock depredation by wolves and the Three Creeks Grazing Reserve is where much of his time was spent. The livestock compensation program is an evidence based program and having a person dedicated to deal strictly with problem wildlife is a major asset to ensure depredation complaints are investigated in a timely matter so that evidence is preserved and producers are payed for those animals that are lost to predators. Five other livestock depredation complaints were related to coyotes. The balance of complaints were related various other issues such as euthanizing injured wildlife involved in motor vehicle collisions, proper relocation of orphaned wildlife, trapping and relocation of nuisance wildlife such as foxes, etc. Every additional position we have to deal with daily commitments to the public regarding problem wildlife is fundamental in reducing the Fish and Wildlife Officer’s problem wildlife workload and allowing them to contribute more effort to their enforcement duties as they pertain to illegal fishing and hunting and overall rural crime. May through August 2018, Fish and Wildlife Officers were able to commit approximately One hundred and seventy hours patrolling lakes and other waterbodies within the Peace River District. As a result, they checked approximately 215 anglers and issued twenty-seven enforcement actions for various fishery, boating and liquor violations. Also, between the months of May and June Fish and Wildlife Officers were able to commit approximately forty hours patrolling for black bear hunters which resulted in approximately forty-three resident and non-resident hunters, and commercial Outfitter Guides being checked.