{"id":294,"date":"2020-02-27T19:33:54","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/?page_id=294"},"modified":"2021-04-07T19:25:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T19:25:42","slug":"fight-to-protect-cougar-habitat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/conservation\/fight-to-protect-cougar-habitat\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevan Bracewell Continues Fight to Protect Cougar Habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Kevan Bracewell has taken up the fight to protect cougar habitat through conservation-minded land management and guiding policies.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>At a glance\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As one of Canada\u2019s largest predators, the cougar requires a sizeable prey population, namely mule deer and elk, for survival. As habitat loss and habitat fragmentation jeopardize the health and size of ungulate herds, the lack of a stable robust prey population puts the cougar at risk.<\/li>\n<li><u>The Details:<\/u> Kevan Bracewell has taken up the fight to prevent habitat degradation and loss by advocating for protected natural parks and responsible land management.<\/li>\n<li><u>Purpose:<\/u> To safeguard the wilderness of the Coast to Cascades region and ensure that this habitat can support Canada\u2019s wildlife for generations to come.<\/li>\n<li><u>Goals Achieved:<\/u> Designation of the South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park as a Class A protected park and the formulation of sustainable park and land management policies throughout the Bridge River Valley watershed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Whole Story\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The cougar plays an essential role in the ecosystems of British Columbia. The predator-prey relationship between the cougar and deer populations is what drives the deer to move throughout their habitat, preventing overgrazing and erosion along riverbanks. This interaction promotes habitat that can support a host of other species. Without the cougar, the finely balanced ecosystems in BC would suffer loss of resources and become unsustainable habitats for Canada\u2019s wildlife. Currently, habitat loss threatens to reduce the vigor and size of mule deer populations, which poses a significant risk to the cougar. This is why Kevan Bracewell has led the fight for sustainable land and park management policies that will prevent habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and the resulting repercussions up the food chain.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the impact of habitat loss on its prey, loss of territory also directly impacts the cougar\u2019s behavioral patterns. As solitary creatures, each cougar requires its own territory of 250 square kilometers over which it can hunt. If one cougar encroaches on another cougar\u2019s territory, a major fight often ensues. The cougar will even fight to the death to protect its territory. The cougar\u2019s behavioral need for expansive hunting territory, combined with its need for a robust prey population within that territory, has made the cougar highly vulnerable to habitat loss. This, along with a host of other conservation issues, drove Kevan Bracewell to fight for the creation of the South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park. Kevan Bracewell and other conservation groups won this fight in 2010, when the South Chilcotin Mountains received their protected status as a Class A park. This official designation for the park has created a permanent safe-haven for deer and cougars within the larger Coast to Cascades region.<\/p>\n<p>Since the creation of the park, Kevan Bracewell has continued the fight against habitat loss and habitat fragmentation. He understands that any loss of habitat has repercussions for the well-being of species all the way up the food chain. The plight of cougar populations in California has proved this to be true. Even with the policies and regulations California enacted to fight for the well-being of these wild cats, the cougar population in California is still estimated to be decreasing. Conservation groups have focused their fight on preventing further habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, as they believe habitat degradation is responsible for the declining population. As cougars in California become more isolated through habitat fragmentation and human population growth, their genetic variation and overall viability suffers. This compounds the already harmful impact of decreased prey populations, resulting from habitat degradation. In order to prevent this from happening in the South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park and greater Bridge River Valley watershed, Kevan Bracewell continues his fight to prevent human encroachment and overuse activities that could make large portions of the protected region uninhabitable for the cougar and its prey.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Next steps\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>The fight to protect the habitat of cougar populations throughout the Bridge River Valley watershed is far from over. Every year, the policies that were put in place to guide and promote the sustainable management of this wilderness are tested and tried. It requires dedication and a principle-driven approach to fight this continuous push for initiatives that would cause overuse and degradation of the environment. This is why Kevan Bracewell will continue to fight for the land and act as a voice for the wild places that support Canada\u2019s wildlife.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Want to learn how you can join the fight to protect Canada\u2019s wild places?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/chilcotinarkinstitute.com\/\">Chilcotin Ark Institute<\/a> today.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Learn more about Kevan Bracewell\u2019s work:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chilcotinholidays.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #485637;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><u>Chilcotin Holidays<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wilderness.stewardship.foundation\/\"><span style=\"color: #485637;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><u>Wilderness Stewardship Foundation<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stewardship.foundation\/\"><span style=\"color: #485637;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><u>Stewardship Foundation<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trails-to-empowerment.org\/\"><span style=\"color: #485637;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><u>Trails to Empowerment<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chilcotinarkinstitute.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #485637;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><u>Chilcotin Ark Institute<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #485637;\"><span style=\"font-family: Open Sans;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><u><a href=\"http:\/\/wildernesstrainingacademy.com\/\">Wilderness Training Academy<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/communitymill.ca\/\">Community Mill<\/a> <\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kevan Bracewell has taken up the fight to protect cougar habitat through conservation-minded land management and guiding policies. &nbsp; At a glance\u2026 As one of Canada\u2019s largest predators, the cougar requires a sizeable prey population, namely mule deer and elk, for survival. As habitat loss and habitat fragmentation jeopardize the health and size of ungulate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":414,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/294\/revisions\/414"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevanbracewell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}