Several hundred naturalists from around B.C. met in Kamloops on Friday to see the Thompson’s unique birds, grasses and mammals.

But those natural, and national, treasures are being paved, farmed, killed by insects and threatened by global warming, a series of speakers told a convention of B.C. Nature.

“I teach a class in conservation biology and students often ask me if there’s any hope,” said Tom Dickinson, Thompson Rivers University’s dean of science and head of the local naturalists club.

A series of biologists, foresters and TRU professors presented a state of the grasslands and dry Interior forests to about 150 members of B.C. Nature during a conference Friday and Saturday.

The news is not all bad. In fact, B.C.’s disappearing grasslands – currently about one per cent of the land base and shrinking – may be a winner under global warming.

Andrew Harcombe, a terrestrial ecologist with Nature Conservancy of Canada, showed mapping of the grassland ecosystem to 2085, a prediction made by computer modeling of predicted temperature and precipitation.

“By the time you get to 2085 there’s a lot of red,” he said of grassland areas delineated on the map.

Harkin said grasslands may expand northward with climate change as fires and droughts kill back forests.

But there are uncertainties – as well as threats to other natural values – under that scenario. Andre Arsenault, a researcher with Ministry of Forests, said water is the uncertainty.

“(Climate) modelers feel confident about temperature changes. They don’t feel that comfortable about precipitation changes. That’s probably the most important to dry forests, along with disturbances.

The biggest disturbance in the valley in a century, pine beetle infestation, has killed off most of the ponderosa pine in B.C., save for a tiny amount remaining and unaffected stands in the south Okanagan.

That wipe out of ponderosa pine threatens to kill off dependent species, including a songbird that lives here year round and feeds almost exclusively on ponderosa pine seeds in winter.

Ralph Heinrich, a researcher on a TRU project looking at the future of ponderosa pine forests after the beetle epidemic, said counts of pygmy nuthatch and their nests have shown a collapse.

A count here in 2007 found four birds per kilometre surveyed. Two years later the number fell to .4 birds per kilometre.

The City of Kamloops estimated the beetle epidemic killed off 90 per cent of ponderosa pine trees within the city.

“Without ponderosa pine seeds, which they cache in bark, they’re likely to decline further,” he said.

On the bigger picture, other speakers detailed grassland habitat and species that are not faring well.

Only 250-350 of B.C.’s unique badgers remain. Every animal tracked through a transmitter program has been killed by a car as it attempted to cross a highway. The animals range several hundred kilometres a year and often cross roads.

Antelope brush, a specific type of grassland, is being wiped out in the Okanagan by vine growing for wine production.

Bob Moody, Grassland Conservation Council of B.C.’s new executive director, said development, like at Six Mile Ranch and Batchelor Heights in Kamloops, is killing rare habitat. And abusive recreation is also causing permanent damage.

But, historically, grasslands were pounded into dirt in Lac Du Bois 80 years ago through overgrazing by horses and yet made a comeback. Ponderosa pine largely died off 90 years ago due to logging and a pine beetle epidemic. History shows that change occurs and nature can be resilient.

Dickinson said on the horizon are ATV laws that will require licencing, allowing identification of bad riders. And developers are willing to work with planners to build around sensitive areas.

cfortems@kamloopsnews.ca