From: on behalf of Panel Registry Subject: FW: TNG registration of ...

infestations and two very large wildfires (2003 and 2009), whose enabling conditions were created
by global warming. As mentioned earlier in section 5.2, even larger, hotter wildfires are projected
for the future. Another threat is posed by uncontrolled wildfires that burn up the peat that
underlies the hundreds of small and large meadows, which store considerable carbon that is
released in large amounts when burned.
It is important to acknowledge, however, that there are very important exogenous factors, which
have nothing to do with climate change, but which have also negatively impacted the wildlife and
wild horse habitats to date. Government policies of wildfire suppression, for example, allowed
excessive fuel loading, which contributed to the past wildfire situations. Other exogenous factors
include tree encroachment, over‐grazing by livestock and lack of natural grassland wildfires, which
have already caused some native grassland deterioration. In addition, roading and clearcutting in
some outlying areas have increased drying conditions that would be expected to accelerate further
drying conditions, changes in micro‐climate and drying of lakes and ponds that are fed by run‐off.
Projected climate­related impacts on wildlife and wild horse habitats
Climate change factors will have an increasing effect not only on the biogeoclimatic zones of the
XGCA but also subsequently on wildlife habitats and wildlife survival. According to climate
projections in section 4.4, the XGCA may expect (i) Increased mean temperatures; (ii) increased
drought conditions in the summer; and (iii) increased rainfall (instead of snow) in winter. These
climatic changes are projected to cause (i) larger and hotter wildfires (which is also a result of fire
suppression); (ii) increase the extent of grasslands in several low elevation bioclimatic subzones in
XGCA; (iii) increase drought; and (iv) possibly cause the treeline to increase in elevation.
To
assess how these projected climate changes will impact the wildlife and wild horses in the XGCA,
three sets of biological indicator species were used:
1. A sma ll number of plant species and their habitat associations were chosen for their relative
importance to wildlife. These
indicator species included
a. Whitebark Pine ( Pinus
albicaulis),
b. Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides),
c.
Soopolallie, and
d. Western Spring Beauty (“wild potato”).
2. Another set of indicator species included sensitive habitat ecotones (treeline and grasslands).
3. The final set of indicator species concerned wildlife, and besides the wild horse, included the
grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), California bighorn sheep, mountain goat, moose, and mule deer.
These mammal indicator species were chosen either because of their apparent vulnerability to
global warming and or their importance to the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation. Finally, comments
were also made on birdlife
The following is a summary of the assessment, of which further details can be found in Appendix X.
This is a subjective assessment by the project team, hence these projections should be treated with
care.
Assessment of future climate impact on plant indicators
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