Western painted turtle in Rocky Mountains (Chrysemys picta bellii) proposed management plan: part 1

• Previous page
• Table of contents
• Next page

Part 1 – Federal Addition to the Management Plan for the Painted Turtle – Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population (Chrysemys picta pop. 2) in British Columbia, prepared by Environment and Climate Change Canada

Preface

The federal, provincial, and territorial government signatories under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk (1996) agreed to establish complementary legislation and programs that provide for effective protection of species at risk throughout Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act (S.C. 2002, c. 29) (SARA), the federal competent ministers are responsible for the preparation of management plans for listed species of special concern and are required to report on progress within five years after the publication of the final document on the SAR Public Registry.

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change is the competent minister under SARA for the Western Painted Turtle Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population and has prepared the federal component of this management plan (Part 1), as per section 65 of SARA. To the extent possible, it has been prepared in cooperation with the province of British Columbia as per section 66(1) of SARA. SARA section 69 allows the Minister to adopt all or part of an existing plan for the species if the Minister is of the opinion that an existing plan relating to wildlife species includes adequate measures for the conservation of the species. The Province of British Columbia provided the attached management plan for the Western Painted Turtle Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population (Part 2) as science advice to the jurisdictions responsible for managing the species in British Columbia. It was prepared in cooperation with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Success in the conservation of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out in this management plan and will not be achieved by Environment and Climate Change Canada or any other jurisdiction alone. All Canadians are invited to join in supporting and implementing this plan for the benefit of the Western Painted Turtle Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population and Canadian society as a whole.

Implementation of this management plan is subject to appropriations, priorities, and budgetary constraints of the participating jurisdictions and organizations.

Additions and modifications to the adopted document

The following sections have been included to address specific requirements of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) that are not addressed in the Management Plan for the Painted Turtle – Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population (Chrysemys picta pop. 2) in British Columbia (Part 2 of this document, referred to henceforth as “the provincial management plan”) and/or to provide updated or additional information.

Under SARA, prohibitions regarding the protection of species and their habitat do not apply to species of special concern. Conservation measures in the provincial management plan dealing with the protection of individuals and their habitat are still adopted to guide conservation efforts but would not result in federal legal protection.

1. Effects on the environment and other species

A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is conducted on all SARA recovery planning documents, in accordance with the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals. The purpose of a SEA is to incorporate environmental considerations into the development of public policies, plans, and program proposals to support environmentally sound decision-making and to evaluate whether the outcomes of a recovery planning document could affect any component of the environment or any of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy’s (FSDS) goals and targets.

Conservation planning is intended to benefit species at risk and biodiversity in general. However, it is recognized that implementation of management plans may also inadvertently lead to environmental effects beyond the intended benefits. The planning process based on national guidelines directly incorporates consideration of all environmental effects, with a particular focus on possible impacts upon non-target species or habitats. The results of the SEA are incorporated directly into the management plan itself, but are also summarized below in this statement.

The provincial management plan for the Western Painted Turtle Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population contains a short section describing the effects of management activities on other species (i.e., Section 9). Environment and Climate Change Canada adopts this section of the provincial management plan as the statement on effects of management activities on the environment and other species. The distribution of Western Painted Turtle Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population may overlap with that of many other federally-listed species at risk occurring in wetland habitats of south-interior and south-eastern BC that could be affected by management actions, including: Bent Spike-rush (Eleocharis geniculata), Great Basin Spadefoot (Spea intermontana), Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis), Monarch (Danaus plexippus), Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens), Northern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae), Olive Clubtail (Stylurus olivaceus), Pallid Bat (Antozous pallidus), Short-rayed Alkali Aster (Symphyotrichum frondosum), Small-flowered Lipocarpha (Lipocarpha micrantha), Spotted Bat (Euderma maculatum), Toothcup (Rotala ramosior), Scarlet Ammannia (Ammannia robusta) Vivid Dancer (Argia vivida), Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occodentalis), Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus), Western Screech-Owl macfarlanei subspecies (Megascops kennicottii macfarlanei), Tiger Salamander Southern Mountain population (Ambystoma tigrinum), Western Toad (Anaxyrus boreas), Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon), Yellow Rail (Coturnicops novebaoracensis), and Yellow-breasted Chat auricollis subspecies Southern Mountain population (Icteria virens auricollis).

Conservation planning activities for Western Painted Turtle Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population will be implemented with consideration for all co-occurring species, with focus on species at risk, to avoid or minimize negative impacts to these species or their habitats. Some management actions for Western Painted Turtle Intermountain – Rocky Mountain population (e.g., research and monitoring, habitat conservation, public education and mitigation about general threats to the species) may promote the conservation of other species at risk that overlap in distribution and rely on similar habitat attributes.