Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are for the Minister of ENR. Mr. Speaker, in the Nahendeh riding, in particular Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte, we've had some issues with the buffalo. The community has reached out and asked: what are we doing there? Can the Minister please provide us an update on what plans they have to help mitigate the problems that these animals are causing? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Bison normally come into the community. I was actually on a constituency tour with the Member a couple of winters ago, and there were actually bison right in the community. We work closely with the community of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte to try to address this issue. In Liard, when bison come into the community, we try to herd them out by the local renewable resource officer, and we are considering a similar program in Nahanni Butte.
If bison do not leave and pose a public threat, they are removed by ENR or a community member with a bison tag. If the bison are removed, the meat is shared within the community for dry meat. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister advise: has the department's staff reached out to the leadership in both of these communities moving forward to try to address this issue?
We have worked with both communities to develop a Nahanni bison management plan. That was completed in August of this year, and I believe I may have tabled that a couple of days ago. That includes approaches to reduce bison-human conflicts. We've also provided a range of public information to promote awareness of wood bison in ways to avoid conflict.
When I've been talking to the residents in both those communities, they talked about the opportunity to maybe increase the number of tags for outside the region, not just the community. Has the department looked at that potential opportunity?
There are a number of options that our department needs to look at. I think we've heard from the Member from Mackenzie Delta about their programs with grizzly bears, and if we would consider the number of tags that are used or allocated. It is something else we would have to look at. In this particular area, we would have to look at it, the bear problem in the Beau-Del, as well. We need to take all these factors into consideration as we try and help alleviate the problem of animal-human conflict.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's answers. I have to give a big shout-out to his department, especially in Fort Liard and Fort Simpson. They do manage these areas here, and they're doing a great job, and they're communicating with the residents, and they're trying to address this issue locally, as well. Can the Minister advise if the department has reached out to the Department of Infrastructure to look at bordering the airports, putting fences around them, similar to what is done in Fort Providence?
We have worked with communities and MACA to fence off some key areas to keep bison out. I think one of the examples is in Fort Liard, and we will continue to work with the community of Nahanni Butte to explore options for fencing the Nahanni Butte airstrip again. Our departments will work closely with each other to try and find ways to help alleviate some of the problems that they're facing in the Nahendeh region with regard to bison, so we will continue to work on that and ensure that the public safety of the people is our first priority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
