Good fences make good neighbors, or in this case, protect livestock.
Premier Gordon Campbell announced on Friday that the Province will develop a new fencing program to protect livestock along highway and rail corridors.
Campbell was attending the BC Cattlemen’s Association annual general meeting, when he made the announcement.
The province will begin working with the BC Cattlemen’s Association to identify priority fencing projects and develop a three-year fencing program, and create a new Ranching Task Force to support the province’s ranching industry.
Campbell said livestock on highways and rail corridors poses a serious safety threat, and costs ranchers thousands of dollars in avoidable expenses. He said the new fencing program will build on the three-year, nine-million dollar fencing program that expired in 2007. Through that program, approximately 600 kilometers of fencing was built. An estimated 700 kilometers of outstanding fencing is needed along highway corridors.
The Ranching Task Force will also bring together key stakeholders with government to advise how policy and regulatory changes can assist the industry through challenging global economic times and into the future.
The Ranching Industry Task Force will be created in consultation with the industry, through the BC Cattlemen’s Association. The new fencing program will be developed through the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
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