Ten years ago Dan Simmons of the Cariboo embarked on a mission to stop the hunt of cow moose and calf in B.C.
He designed and fundraised as a non-profit entity to have effective signage made.
Today his signs can be seen across many areas in the province.
Dan said he and his wife Vivian Simmons, who came on board to help later, receive positive feedback about the project all the time.
“Personally on our journey in the backcountry, we have seen populations are starting to show encouraging signs of recovery, but they are still nowhere where they were in peak times,” Dan said.
The Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship credited the Cow Moose Sign Project for increasing awareness regarding the importance of cow moose in maintaining stable and productive moose populations.
A mininstry spokesperson confirmed there have been 11 stratified random block moose surveys completed in the Cariboo region from 2019 through 2023, but there are not previous survey estimates to compare back to 2014.
“Because of the many factors that influence moose population trends, we are not able to directly link the success of the Cow Moose Sign Project to changes in moose populations in the Cariboo Region,” the ministry noted.
Reports from meat cutters in the Central Interior, however, suggest there has been a reduction in the proportion of cow moose being brought in for butchering, the spokesperson added.
Moose population estimates are updated every five years as part of the province’s harvest allocation exercise.
In 2011, the moose population estimate for the Cariboo Region was 19,800 moose, the 2016 estimate was 20,500 and the 2021 estimate was 19,830.
“These population estimates, which are the best estimates acknowledging uncertainty, indicate a relatively stable population over the last 10 years.”
Dan and Vivian have relentlessly pressured leaders in the provincial government and those that control the annual harvest of moose to stop the hunting of cow and calf moose.
In 2022, the harvesting of calf moose-only season was closed and removed from the B.C. hunting regulations and L.E.H. tags for cow or calf moose throughout the province were all reduced to a “one only” in provincial sub-regions.
Praising Simmons’ efforts, Len Butler, deputy chief of provincial operations for the Conservation Officer Services of B.C. recalled meeting with Dan about the sign project the first time in Williams Lake in 2014.
“Dan’s vision and his obvious dedication to this initiative was clear, and this led to a 10-year relationship between Dan and Vivian and the Conservation Officer Service,” Butler said. “Our goals are similar and supporting their project was never in doubt.”
Benefits of supporting the project gave the COS some common ground with many of the resource users, but especially with the First Nations in the region, Butler said.
“Our meetings with the nations in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, allowed more focus on common concerns and the protection of the cow moose was front and centre.”
Butler said those discussions also opened doors to working closer together in the protection of that resource.
Tl’etinqox First Nation chief and Tsilhqo’tin National Government tribal chair Joe Alphonse said his community was the first to participate in the project.
“It brought the issue to the forefront and continues to be a constant reminder with all the signs out there,” Alphonse said. “We need more of that. The province does not seem to care about the moose population. They keep issuing hunting licenses, left, right and centre like it’s going out of style.”
Alphonse said the moose population overall is dropping in the Chilcotin.
If you want that resource to recover it’s really important to leave the cow moose and calves alone, he said.
“As First Nations people that’s how our people used to be, but a lot of them abandoned that. The project has helped revitalize our traditional values again.”
Alphonse has not gone moose hunting himself for 16 years, but before that harvested one to two moose a year for family.
“Without that resource our people’s dietary habits are changing. To me it’s really important we do everything we can to save and enhance and promote our moose population, not just for us but for future generations.”
Hunters for BC vice-president Dave Ryder offered his congratulations and gratitude.
“The unprecedented level of awareness this program has created in nothing short of showing how the efforts of an individual can become a reality and turn into something great,” he noted in a written statement for the Tribune.
Not only has the program created public awareness of the current issues of moose population decline, but also extends the message well beyond into the crisis of the overall decline of ungulates populations across the province, he said.
“Perhaps most importantly it has brought together First Nations people and local communities for a better understanding that together we can better address the future of our wildlife and the need to work together for the best results, a great tribute to reconciliation long before Canada adopted the U.N. resolution.”
Williams Lake First Nation chief Willie Sellars said the project has been a great initiative that has stretched far and wide, not only in the Cariboo Chilcotin but throughout the province.
“We are seeing the moose numbers are creeping up because of the education of not shooting the cow moose,” he said. “It’s been a really unbelievable job by Dan and he has included us so we can be a part of it.”
In the last year more people have been harvesting bull moose in Williams Lake First Nation territory, Sellars said, noting that is a positive sign the initiative is working.
“It’s great to see and it’s what we want to see - our communities and our nations having an opportunity to harvest an animal in a safe way and being able to see the population of the moose sustained and continue to grow is a great.”
Vivian said it has been overwhelming how successful the project has been over the last 10 years.
“There is nothing better than feeling like you have helped to make a difference and I know we have,” she said. “We all have to continue on the path of recovery and the cow moose is critical for this.”
Dan said the accomplishments over the last decade, the future of the moose and other ungulates depends on a continuous approach to address all the different stresses to the populations.
“Habitat, predators, poaching, sustainable harvesting for all stakeholders and improving forest management, stewardship and awareness must be at its highest level for success.”
Dan encouraged public feedback regarding moose populations or the sign project and thanked everyone who knows the importance of the cow moose.
“It’s about the future. Cow moose conservation is a cause that has no end.”
READ MORE: Cow Moose Sign founder honoured for efforts to conserve B.C. moose population
READ MORE: Cow Moose Sign Project founder applauds B.C.’s decision to protect cow moose in Omineca region
