H
WILDLIFE IN BRITIS COLUMBIAAT RISK
Extinct and Extirpated Species
At least species and subspecies have disappeared from British Columbia in historic times.
Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks some invertebrate groups. The CDC lists activity led to their demise, before biol- 14 species or subspecies (referred to col- ogists even had a chance to give them lectively as “taxa”) that are extirpated proper scientific names. from British Columbia and 5 that are Whitefishes are found across north- Extinct and Extirpated extinct. The real numbers are undoubted- ern Canada. From the time that the last Species in British Columbia ly higher, since we are far from having major glaciation ended, about 10 000 lthough British Columbia has a identified every plant and animal species years ago, they have been expanding more varied flora and fauna than in the province. Of the estimated 35 000 into new, under-utilized habitats and any other province in Canada, species of insects that live in British evolving into new forms. For scientists Awe should not take this rich biodi- Columbia, for example, only about half who study evolution, these fishes offer versity for granted. Many species and are known to science. With this many a rare opportunity to analyze the subspecies are at risk. Worse yet, some unknown species, it is inevitable that process of speciation (the evolution of have been extirpated from British some have been lost before we even rec- new species) in progress. The Dragon Columbia (they are no longer found ognized their existence and that these Lake Whitefish (Coregonus sp 1), within the province, but still live else- unrecorded extinctions and extirpations which lived in Dragon Lake near where) or have become extinct (they no will continue to happen. Quesnel, was eradicated in 1956 when longer exist anywhere in the world). In addition to the 19 extirpated and the lake was poisoned to remove When a province has nearly 500 extinct taxa, 37 others are listed by the unwanted fishes before introducing species of birds and more than 3000 CDC as being “historic” (see table). trout for sport fishing. plant species, the loss of one or two of This qualifier is applied to species Two fishes that once lived on Las- these may not seem that serious, queti Island in the Strait of Georgia – but there are a number of reasons “The outstanding scientific discovery of the Hadley Lake Limnetic Stickleback why every species and subspecies is the twentieth century is not television, or (Gasterosteus sp 12) and the Hadley worthy of conservation. For some radio, but rather the complexity of the Lake Benthic Stickleback (Gasterosteus people, the most important consid- land organism. Only those who know the sp 13) – were also examples of rela- eration is the known and potential tively young species that had the most about it can appreciate how little is economic values of plants and ani- potential to increase our understand- known about it. The last word in mals, which provide us with build- ing of the evolutionary process. The ing materials, medicine, food, pest ignorance is the man who says of an two Hadley Lake sticklebacks were control, and much more. For oth- animal or plant: “What good is it?” If the what is known as a “species pair” – ers, it is the aesthetic or spiritual land mechanism as a whole is good, then two distinct but closely related species significance of living beings. In every part is good, whether we understand living side-by-side in the same small addition to these values, ecosys- it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, lake. They were lost in the early 1990s tems are complex networks of has built something we like but do not when non-native catfish, which prey interconnected organisms and the understand, then who but a fool would on stickleback eggs, were introduced loss of any one component of an discard seemingly useless parts? To keep to their home waters. ecosystem can affect all the remain- every cog and wheel is the first British Columbia’s fourth extinct ing species, often in ways we do animal is the Dawson Caribou precaution of intelligent tinkering.” not yet understand. Furthermore, (Rangifer tarandus dawsoni). These , certain types of organisms, such as , . elusive caribou lived in muskeg habi- lichens, amphibians, and fish, are tat on the Queen Charlotte Islands. valuable bioindicators – the health of whose presence in British Columbia Early scientific records of their pres- these species provides us with tangible has not been verified for a long time – ence on Graham Island were based on evidence about the health of the ecosys- generally about 45 years – but for which a few accounts by Haidas who lived tems in which they live. there is a reasonable expectation that there, and the discovery of tracks and someday they may be found again. antlers in the late 1800s and early British Columbia’s 1900s. The last Dawson Caribou ever casualty list Status: Extinct to be reported was seen in 1908. he BC Conservation Data Centre hree of the five British Columbia The cause of this subspecies’ extinc- (CDC) maintains records on animal species that have become extinct tion is a mystery. Over-hunting is and vascular plant species at risk in are fish. Each one was confined to one possibility, although any hunting Tthe province, as well as mosses and Ta single lake. In each case, human that was done by the Haida or by Europeans is completely undocument- Columbia are all at the northern edge in the steppe and lower montane zones ed. Black-tailed Deer, which have of their geographic ranges. as far south as California. now dramatically changed the vegeta- Pink Sandverbena (Abronia umbel- tion on Graham Island, were not pre- lata ssp acutalata) (on cover) grows Insects sent until government officials intro- on coastal beaches and sand dunes. The two British Columbia insect duced them in 1900 and they did not The only locations where it has been species that are known to have been start having a significant impact for found in British Columbia are extirpated are both butterflies. some years after that. Ahousat and Pachena Bay It is probable that other, less showy The fifth extinct species is on the west coast of insects have also been lost from the Passenger Pigeon, which Vancouver Island. It the provincial fauna without ever once existed in huge num- has not been collected having been identified. bers across North America. in this province since Until very recently, biologists thought We don’t know how com- 1927, despite extensive that an unnamed subspecies of the mon these birds were in searching. It is also Large Marble (Euchloe ausonides ssp 1, B.C, but there are records believed to be extir- the Island Large Marble) was extinct. from the Fraser Valley pated from Washing- Its known world distribution was from and the Peace River. The ton, but is still found at the Greater Victoria area, Wellington, last Passenger Pigeon died in the southern end of its and Gabriola Island. Despite intensive captivity in the U.S. in 1914. range, in Oregon. searching, this subspecies had not been Another former Vancou- seen since 1908. The discovery of two Status: Extirpated : ver Island species populations of butterflies that are Plants is Lobb’s Water-but- believed to be this same subspecies Four moss species and four flowering tercup (Ranunculus on San Juan Island, Washington, plants are considered extirpated. lobbii), which grew in seasonal pools changes its status from extinct to extir- Two of the extirpated mosses, Micro- and wet sites, from the southern tip of pated. The reasons for this butterfly’s mitrium tenerum and Pseudephemerum Vancouver Island south to California. disappearance from its Canadian range nitidum, have not been found any- Within British Columbia it was found are not known, but suspected causes where else in Canada. Each of these only in the Victoria area and has not include high levels of cattle and sheep very tiny mosses was known only been recorded since 1948. Urban devel- grazing and non-native parasites asso- from a few sites in the Vancouver opment was most likely the major ciated with the introduced Cabbage area, all of which have been destroyed cause of its disappearance. White butterfly. by human activity. The range of Common Downingia The Viceroy (Limenitis archippus), The habitat of the extirpated moss (Downingia elegans) extends from a widely distributed North American Discelium nudum is naturally ephemer- southeastern British Columbia, south species, was recorded in British al – the open earth banks where it to Nevada and northern California. grows are subject to slumping or Restricted to wet meadows and ponds invasion by seed plants, which crowd in the steppe and lower montane it out. In the past, researchers found zones, it has been found at only one this species in the Vancouver area and site in this province – on the muddy in the Queen Charlotte Islands, but shores of Leach Lake near Creston. all known British Columbia popula- When the shoreline of this lake was tions have now been eliminated. It permanently altered by a waterfowl is still found in other parts of North enhancement project all provincial America. representatives of this species were The moss Physcomitrium immer- eliminated. : sum is known from museum speci- The only location where Rabbit- Chris Guppy photo mens collected from margins of culti- brush Goldenweed (Ericameria Columbia’s southern interior from vated and fallow fields in the Fraser bloomeri) has been found in British 1913 to 1920, and was last collected Valley. It is also still found in other Columbia is near Westbridge in the at Lillooet in 1930. Viceroy habitat parts of North America. south-central part of the province. here was restricted to valley bottoms, The four flowering plants known to This population has disappeared. South which were being converted to apple have been extirpated from British of the border, it is still found in dry sites orchards; once pesticides began to be Historical species in British Columbia These species have historical records but their occurrence has not been verified in recent years.
SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMON NAME LOCATION LAST SEEN : Bryum tenuisetum (moss) Vancouver Island 1887 Dicranum fuscescens var congestum (moss) Lake Cowichan 1931 Polytrichum commune (moss) Summit Lake, New Denver 1926 var perigoniale : Agastache foeniculum Giant-hyssop Columbia River s. of Golden 1947 Atriplex alaskensis Alaska Orache Queen Charlotte Islands 1898 Castilleja fulva Boreal Paintbrush Kechika River area 1940 Chrysosplenium iowense Golden Carpet Upper Peace River drainage 1969 Cryptantha intermedia Large-flowered Grandiflora Nanaimo 1893 var grandiflora Epilobium pygmaeum Smooth Spike-primrose Douglas Lake, southern interior 1921 Gilia captitata var capitata Globe Gilia Victoria 1981 Gilia sinuata Shy Gilia Osoyoos 1940 Leucanthemum arcticum Arctic Daisy Observatory Inlet (nr AK border) 1893 Lupinus arbustus ssp neolaxiflorus Spurred Lupine Extreme SE British Columbia 1944 Lupinus oreganus var kincaidii Sulphur Lupine SE Vancouver Island 1929 Montia diffusa Branching Montia Alberni area 1916 Orobanche pinorum Pine broomrape SE Vancouver Island 1914 Parrya nudicaulis Northern Parrya Extreme NW British Columbia 1945 Pleuricospora fimbriolata Fringed Pinesap Vancouver Island 1916 Prenanthes racemosa ssp multiflora Purple rattlesnake-root Dawson Creek area 1946 Primula nutans Siberian Primrose NW British Columbia, near Atlin 1914 Ranunculus rhomboideus Prairie Buttercup NE British Columbia 1943 Senecio hydrophilus Alkali-marsh Butterweed Kootenay River Flats 1929 Senecio integerrimus var ochroleucus White Western Groundsel South-central B.C. Before 1900 Sphaeralcea munroana Munroe’s Globe-mallow Near Osoyoos 1922 Thellungiella salsuginea Salt-water Cress Columbia Lake 1942 : Carex crawei Crawe’s Sedge Big Bend region, Columbia River 1948 Poa laxa ssp banffiana Banff Bluegrass Valley of Ten Peaks 1943 Poa nervosa Coastal Bluegrass Nootka Sound Before 1840 Polypodium sibiricum Virginia Polypody Beatton River 1943 Polystichum californicum California Sword-fern Texada Island 1897 Cicindela parowana Parowana Tiger Beetle South Okanagan 1953 Plebejus saepiolus insulanus Vancouver Island Blue Southern Vancouver Island 1979 Phrynosoma douglasi Pigmy Short-horned Lizard South Okanagan 1910 last confirmed Eremophila alpestris strigata Horned Lark, strigata subspecies Lower Fraser Valley 1987 Balaenoptera borealis Sei Whale Northeast Pacific Unknown Eubalaena glacialis Black Right Whale Northeast Pacific 1951 Mustela frenata altifrontalis Long-tailed Weasel, Fraser Valley 1937 altifrontalis subspecies used, the population was extirpated. America, the Sage Grouse (Centrocercus between 1881 and 1927. Breeding was Further south, Viceroys survived urophasianus) (on cover) is now extir- assumed because of the time of year because they inhabited a wide area that pated from five American states and the birds were seen, but it was never was not adjacent to apple orchards. one Canadian province – British absolutely confirmed. Yellow-billed Larval foodplants are wild crabapple, Columbia – and is considered at risk Cuckoos nest in dense tangles and cherry, poplar and willow. in six other states and two other thickets of deciduous riparian (stream- provinces. In British Columbia, this side) vegetation. Loss of this type of Reptiles species was restricted to the Okanagan habitat due to urban and agricultur- The Western Pond Turtle (Clemmys Valley south of Oliver, and possibly al development is the most likely cause marmorata) is an inhabitant of marshes, the lower part of the Similkameen of extirpation in British Columbia. ponds, streams, rivers, and lakes. Once found from southwestern Reintroductions British Columbia to Baja California, ritish Columbia’s smallest its distribution and abundance are marine mammal, the Sea Otter declining throughout its range due to (Enhydra lutris), was once extir- habitat loss and degradation, and the Bpated from this province and introduction of non-native predators. throughout much of its range. Prior Killing of these turtles for human to decimation by the fur trade, Sea consumption in the 1800s and early Otters were found in a great arc 1900s was also a factor. In the Pacific around the North Pacific, and the Northwest, an upper respiratory dis- worldwide population was estimat- ease epidemic exacerbated the species’ ed at 150 000 to 300 000. One and decline. Two Western Pond Turtles half centuries of exploitation by were collected in the lower Fraser Val- Russian, American, British, and ley in the 1930s and a third was seen in Spanish fur traders – which ended 1966. Although this species has in 1911 – reduced their numbers to been known to live up to 30 years of between 1000 and 2000, living in a age, there have been no further dozen scattered locations. For many : - . sightings in this area or elsewhere in Ted Lea photo decades it appeared that the last British Columbia since then. record of this species in British The catenifer subspecies of the Go- Valley. A bird shot near Oliver in 1918 Columbia would be the otter that was pher Snake (Pituophis catenifer was the last reported Sage Grouse killed by a scientific collector in 1929. catenifer) was last recorded in this from the original population. An In 1969, provincial and federal province in the 1800s, when one spec- attempt was made to reintroduce the biologists began a Sea Otter reintro- imen was collected from Galiano Island species in 1958, but this failed. This duction program in British Columbia. and another from the border region species inhabits open shrub-steppe Over the next three years, 89 otters near Sumas, Washington. It is now con- sagebrush communities. The main from Alaska were released on the sidered extirpated from both British threats to its existence are habitat loss northwest coast of Vancouver Island. Columbia and Washington, but is still and fragmentation due to sagebrush Since then, their population has grown found through parts of its range south eradication programs, livestock grazing, to an estimated 1600 animals and to southern California. Large portions and land development. they have expanded into new areas. of the grasslands where it once lived The breeding range of the Yellow- The return of the Sea Otter to the have been lost to agricultural and urban billed Cuckoo (Coccyzuz americanus) coastal ecosystem has helped restore development, and on the Gulf Islands extends from eastern North America the natural balance of nearshore reef its habitat has also been degraded by and California, south through the communities. Scotch broom. The disappearance of Caribbean and Mexico. The western In 1996, the Committee on the Sta- these harmless snakes may also be due subspecies is now extirpated from tus of Endangered Wildlife in Canada to human pe secution, as they can be British Columbia, Washington, and (cosewic) down-listed the Sea Otter mistaken for rattlesnakes. Oregon. Most records of this species from nationally Endangered to in British Columbia are from the Threatened. Nevertheless, this species Birds lower Fraser Valley and southeastern is still considered at risk, as it is Once widespread across western North Vancouver Island and were obtained vulnerable to oil spills in its two main : . Royal BC Museum photo : . Royal BC Museum photo areas of concentration. For this reason, Extirpation, on the other hand, offers population of a species is lost. Many of it remains on the provincial Red List. a second chance, but only to a limited the plants and animals that have been Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae) extent. There have been some well-pub- extirpated from British Columbia were once ranged across northern British licized instances of species being suc- at the edge of their species’ geographic Columbia but were extirpated by 1939. cessfully reintroduced to areas from range. Such populations have high evo- Wood Bison were re-introduced in the which they had disappeared, but such lutionary significance to their species 1990s as part of the recovery process, examples are few. Before any reintroduc- as a whole because they contribute to and additional animals have dispersed tion can be considered, the causes of the genetic diversity, adaptability and into British Columbia from the North- extirpation must be addressed. This may versatility of their species. Therefore, the west Territories. mean restoring habitat, eliminating loss of these populations limits a non-native predators or competitors, or species’ long-term survival options. Should we be concerned? ceasing certain human activities. Responsibility for maintaining our xtinction is a natural process, which In any case, reintroduction is not a rich provincial biodiversity, the ecosys- has been taking place ever since life cure-all, for it cannot replace the genet- tems of which we are part and on which first appeared on earth. This does ic diversity that is lost when a distinct we depend, rests with all of us. E not mean we should be unconcerned about the losses currently occurring because of human activities. Scientists estimate that the worldwide rate of , : extinction since the beginning of the Conservation Data Centre Cambrian period (about 590 million Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks years ago) has averaged about two PO Box 9344, Stn. Prov. Govt species per year. The current rate is Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 9M1 thought to be 1000 to 10 000 times www.elp.gov.bc.ca/rib/wis/cdc/ higher. This extinction rate is compara- ble to previous mass extinctions in which at least half the world’s animal Forest Renewal British Columbia species disappeared over a relatively --- short period. In the past, recovery from . mass extinctions has taken about five million years. Even if we could conceive , of waiting that long to regain the level of biodiversity that is being lost, the indi- vidual species that are gone will never return. Extinction is forever. Printed in British Columbia on recycled paper with vegetable inks