A visit to the Elk Valley area between Sparwood and Fernie, BC noted some changes since your humble writer first arrived there in 1970. Being a naïve young innocent from the east, the sheer majesty of the area was overwhelming, particularly in never before having seen a real mountain. I had arrived to work in a massive new open–pit coal mine as a blaster's assistant. Within weeks I experienced my first labour strike and the worry of confronting the legendary blasting crabs, which I was assured by old timers, appeared out of the rock after a dynamite blast. As a dumb kid from Quebec I was prone to believe anything about the Rockies. At that time coal mining in the area was going through one of its periodic boom cycles. Old underground mines were being phased out by a new giant open-pit mine located behind a mountain ridge in the Crowsnest Pass and not visible from the highway. That was a good thing from a visual aspect as we were transforming (blasting) pristine mountain sides into desolate moonscape. The massive destruction is indescribable, but continues to this day in that bastion of environmental self-righteousness - the province of BC. That would be the same province, some of whose citizens heap abuse on oilsands mining in Alberta. BC hypocrisy at its best.
One observes that coal mining is not the only industry in this corner of southwestern BC. Cattle ranching has been a business in the area for almost 100 years. It is small scale compared to what goes on in Alberta, but the fact that it continues even today is intriguing. Considering the real estate pressure from Alberta residents wanting recreation property in the mountains, it's amazing that any agricultural land is still being used for ranching. Some of that farmland preservation can be attributed to BC's decades-old agricultural land protection legislation. It was put into place by the NDP in the 1970's. Subsequent non-NDP governments have been weakening its preservation intent ever since, leading to the growth of condo developments and service industries around the Elk Valley in general. It also means that any remaining ranch and farm land is worth millions in real estate value and is just waiting to be released from the agricultural land reserve. The future of any agriculture in the area would seem dim as land is used for recreational development. That's unfortunate in a province that has so little usable agricultural land to start with. Preserving farm land is generally of little interest to BC green lobby groups who are generally philosophically opposed to commercial agriculture. A case in point is the imminent flooding of 10,000 acres of farm and ranch land in the Northeast BC area by another dam on the Peace River. Few, if any, BC green lobby groups are protesting the permanent loss of that arable land and habitat – it would seem such land does not have the same sex appeal for donation campaigns as coastal beaches and whales. Just more BC green hypocrisy.
One does wonder about the cost of cattle production in the Elk Valley, being the area is regularly inundated with upwards of three or more feet of snow from November till April. Chinooks are rare so cattle have to be fed hay almost continuously for five months - compare that to raising cattle in the nearby southern Alberta foothill range country, where there are years when almost no hay is fed to cattle thanks to open winter grazing. Much of the Elk Valley area would see cattle grazing in bush pasture, which would have very limited forage productivity. One attribute that cattle from this area would have is "predator awareness" thanks to BC predator friendly conservation measures. Bears and wolves have iconic standing in BC, so livestock get the short end of the protection stick. That means predator control essentially does not exist unless there is a bear in your house or attacking a child. I expect livestock are considered fair game for predators by most BC citizens. That would mean any surviving cattle would be wise to the wiles of predators by a sheer survival selection process. I suspect most BC cattle have nervous dispositions from constantly looking over their shoulders. On the other hand they are probably pretty tough having survived constant life-threatening circumstances, sparse bush pastures and severe weather conditions. I expect its all part of the fun of raising cattle in the BC Elk Valley. Best of luck to those producers and their cattle.