Prince George, B.C.- The Spruce City Wildlife Association is hoping  a symposium set  for this weekend will be the first of several to be held  outside the lower mainland.

As 250News reported a couple of weeks ago ( see previous story here) the  panelists are representatives of political parties, and Spruce City Wildlife Association President Jim Glaicar  says  the  theme is all about managing  wildlife.  “Right now, all the dollars  collected through hunting licenses goes to  general revenue,  and we would like to see  those dollars  go directly  to a wildlife management program.”

He says the SCWA   would like to see the same kind of  program as  is in  place for the freshwater fishery.   In the case  of fresh water  fishing, licensing fees  are  used for  stocking lakes and streams and the development of programs  to  enhance  the  resource.  Not so for  wildlife says Glaicar and the SCWA wants to see more attention to wildlife  as  a valuable resource   in the Province. “We need to look at what is happening to  habitat,  and have proper  wildlife population counts” says Glaicar, a statement which echoes  some of the findings in  the recent report  by  MLA Mike Morris.

In his report,  Morris  called  for a new Wildlife management plan and said  that plan should start with  a  comprehensive wildlife inventory.  He also suggested the Province  develop a ‘real time ‘ reporting  system for hunters and trappers  to report  harvest results.  ( full report available here)

Glaicar says  there needs to be a broader picture  developed  on  the impact resource extraction is having on  wildlife.

Glaicar says  this  weekend’s event  will be the first of several similar  symposiums  that will be held in  a number of communities such as Williams Lake,  Kamloops and Kelowna.