{"title":"Demarchi","altern":[],"creato":[],"contri":[],"publsi":[],"datea":[],"date":"1985-03-10","sort":"1985-03-10","item":"Ray Demarchi is one of B.C.'s most respected and colorful wildlife biologists. This program profiles him - giving rare insight to the work and philosophy of a practicing wildlife scientist and manager.","formaa":"1 U-matic videocassette : Mono ; 00:28:30","subjeb":[],"subjea":[],"person":[],"typea":"Motion Pictures","type":"Moving Image","relati":"video\/mp4","langua":"English","notes":"Season 02 Episode 09
Mike Halleran; Rod Silver - Wildlife Biologist; Ken Sumanik - Wildlife Biologist; Henk Campsall - Guide-Outfitter; Rey Demarchi - Wildlife Biologist; Anna Wolterson - Wildlife Biologist; Carmen Purdy - President, B.C. Wildlife Federation; John Murray - Crestbrook Forest Industries; Dave Melanka - Crestbrook Forest Industries; Gail Sumanik; Bobby Fontana - Guide-Outfitter","ubc":[],"local":"UBC VT 2160.1\/024","digita":"Westland_02_09","subjec":"Westland","audien":"Original Format: University of British Columbia. Archives. Halleran Video Collection. UBC VT 2160.1\/024","source":"2012-07-23","publis":"Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library","rights":"Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these images must be obtained from University Archives: http:\/\/www.library.ubc.ca\/archives","licens":[],"transc":"ROD SILVER:\nI think Ray Demarchi\u2019s real strength lies in the fact that he can take the technical information and marry it with the social information and tell people about the land needs of wildlife.\n\nKEN SUMANIK:\nWe worked together, hunted together, fished together, and schemed and connived together, and had many fantastic times together. And I can\u2019t speak\u2026 I can\u2019t speak too highly of him. He\u2019s a special kind of person.\n\nHENK CAMPSALL:\nI\u2019m a guide and outfitter here for all my life, born and raised, third generation in the Kootenays, and I\u2019ve seen the wildlife come and go, and the rises and the falls, and the terrible crashes we had before Ray, and I\u2019m certainly proud to have been a friend of Ray\u2019s, an associate, over the years, and see what we have now in wildlife management. It\u2019s been a great pleasure for me. And besides I\u2019ve had the pleasure of many hunts, in the north, throughout the south and every place with Ray, and I\u2019ve always considered it a privilege just to spend time with the man.\n\nMIKE HALLERAN:\nI\u2019m Mike Halleran. In half a lifetime of doing stories on wildlife and conservation, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever met anyone who doesn\u2019t like wild animals. That includes a large number of people who hunt and trap as well. People relate to wildlife animals for different reasons though. For some, they are appreciated for having qualities we may not find in ourselves. We collect them in zoos, a process not without its detractors. \n\nWe also put their images on our coins. We name football teams after them, even cars, which I suppose must be the ultimate urban compliment. Nor does the exploitation stop there. The entertainment industry has cashed in on wildlife as well. Television and the cartoon industry has given several generations of us a veritable menagerie of wildlife cartoon characters, some of whom walk upright, converse between species, and even pick up things with their hands. The whole process is rife with anthropomorphism and leaves some sadly distorted impressions with the viewers, especially with the young.\n\nBC has more wildlife diversity than any other place in the nation. The numbers are vast as well, with populations of some large animal species like deer numbering in the hundreds of thousands. But the responsibility for the care, usually called the management, of our wildlife is vested in only a handful of people. They are the wildlife biologists in the employ of the provincial wildlife branch. Our story tonight profiles one of them.\n\nThe BC Wildlife Federation, in cooperation with the communications branch of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, presents Westland, a series of programs discussing natural resources conservation and land use in British Columbia.\n\nSPEAKER (OFF-CAMERA):\nNow that he\u2019s busy being on movies right now\u2026 Yeah. They\u2019re making films in the office. Yeah.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nHey Suze, by the way, did Tom Wood phone yet?\n\nSUZE:\nNo, I\u2019m sorry, he hasn\u2019t.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nIs he gonna call us or leave a message?\n\nSUZE:\nHe\u2019s due in here at noon hour.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nOkay thanks\u2026 Hi guys.\n\nMEN:\nHi Ray! How ya doin\u2019?\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nYou guys up for this lab today?\n\nSPEAKER 1:\nYup. Helen did a pretty upstate job today.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nYeah?\n\nSPEAKER 1:\nReally good.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nYou gotta\u2026 (INAUDIBLE)\n\nSPEAKER 1:\nIt\u2019s about time we had someone with\u2026\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nYou got a white-tailed doe, I hear, Pat.\n\nPAT:\nYes, we found one on the road this morning. Brought it in. We\u2019ll have a full autopsy on that deer this afternoon, I guess.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nGood deal. We\u2019re looking at the H-class distribution thing on the\u2026 from the two, three turns, and the computer printout. Bill\u2019s working the program up, we were looking at some of the\u2026 preliminary results. You know, we\u2019ve got the computer now, we can put\u2026 plug the information is\u2026 as we analyze it, and we have to look at time of kill. So we can\u2026 the computer will give us that too. We just print it into the program. We want to know the average age of the bucks by week. By management. I mean this is something we couldn\u2019t do until we had that little machine in there. \n\nTwo or three or four guys get together. They\u2019re hunting cronies, they\u2019ve been hunting together for years, maybe there\u2019s a new member in their group. A son, or a new friend, or something. And one of them will have a (INAUDIBLE) permit or a (INAUDIBLE)\u2026\n\nMEN:\nYup.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\n\u2026 permit. And he\u2019ll say, you know, I got this tag, guys, why don\u2019t we go up to the Kootenays, you know, maybe we can\u2026 maybe you can shoot a white-tailed buck or a mule deer. Help me get a calf elk, or something like this. So the whole group of them will come, probably because they\u2019ve got that limited entry permit.\n\nYou guys got good records on your\u2026 animals that have been shot and lost this year, you\u2019ve been keeping records of that?\n\nSPEAKER 2:\nTrying to, yeah.\n\nSPEAKER 3:\nDoing compulsories on them.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nYeah.\n\nSPEAKER 3:\nAnd grades.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nA lot of it\u2019s sort of wasted effort, these\u2026 and wasted animals when guys go out and they shoot and they don\u2019t follow up, or you know, shoot the wrong animal or whatever, but it seems when you get this kind of concentration, if we get more reports of it, but is it more individual\u2026 is it more incidents, or is it just actually more reporting of the same incidents. You know, this is the question that we have to answer. Because I know we had one calf elk that was hit by a truck on the highway, down near Frenchman\u2019s Slough, and we\u2026 well, I got a report on it, Ken McLennan got two reports on it, Bill Workington got a report on it, so there\u2019s four on that one calf elk.\n\nSPEAKER 4:\nYou can cut it now \u2018cause it\u2019s gonna just go all right through it right now. Okay so it\u2019s gonna just start going\u2019 (INAUDIBLE). Okay. It won\u2019t take very long \u2018cause we didn\u2019t kill very many.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nExcellent, excellent.\n\nWell, we should be able to dispel a lot of myths about the rut around here with this project, once we find out the frequency of the pregnancy rate and the timing of the rut. We\u2019ll be able to find out exactly the way it occurs.\n\nANNA WOLTERSON:\nI\u2019ll just hold it up at the horns and let it all slide out. It\u2019ll be attached at the caruncles. It\u2019s a good\u2026 come on, there you go. It\u2019s a good size fetus. Now we\u2019re taking five measurements. And one of them is the amniotic fluid which surrounds the fetus and protects it. And the other ones are\u2026 It\u2019s a bit messy here so it\u2019ll take a while for me to cut all the junk off it first. This is the allantois and that\u2019s the bi-product\u2026 and inside is allantoic fluid, and that\u2019s the bi-products of the fetus as it matures.\n\n(INAUDIBLE) I need to measure\u2026 (INAUDIBLE) See it\u2019s a boy for\u2026 or a girl for sure. See the angle of the reproductive organ? Before they were facing that way\u2026\n\nSPEAKER 5:\nRight.\n\nANNA WOLTERSON:\nNow they\u2019re facing backwards.\n\nSPEAKER 5:\nWell as they develop, it\u2019s\u2026\n\nANNA WOLTERSON:\nAs they get more mature, yeah.\n\nSPEAKER 5:\nGets easier and easier to tell and be able to sex them too. Get a sex ratio out of it.\n\nANNA WOLTERSON:\nThis one\u2019s about two and a half months now I guess. I would imagine.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nThat\u2019s a lot earlier than a lot of people think.\n\nANNA WOLTERSON:\nOh yeah, for sure.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nWhen I came to the Kootenay region in late 1964, there were seven regional wildlife biologists in British Columbia, and none of whom had a wildlife technician working for them or any wildlife assistants. And there were two people in Victoria, so essentially the entire province\u2019s wildlife resources were being managed by nine people at that time. \n\nOne of the ways that we can aid in the recovery of wildlife populations is through wildlife transplants. And moving animals from overstocked areas into understocked areas. And it\u2019s quite a simple procedure to trap animals and then to hold them until they get enough for an economical truck load, and then move them to the range. You have to assess the range to make sure that it\u2019ll carry the animals and the best indicator, of course, is the presence of that species itself on that area. And we\u2019ve done quite a bit of that. We try not to play like Jonny Appleseed and move animals everywhere without any sort of foresight or without looking into what the consequences and the repercussions might be on other species and other land interests. But where the habitats are vacant then we will move animals into them.\n\nThe first ten years that I was here, much of it was spent trying to demonstrate how important wildlife was and a lot of it was spent defending wildlife. There were a lot of conflicts between resource agencies and with fish and wildlife and various users. Then we discovered it was far more productive if we could get together. And we adopted a program called Coordinated Resource Management Planning, which put us together around the table with foresters, with loggers, with ranchers, with the ranger (INAUDIBLE), with other interests in parks and lands and so on. And we started working cooperatively. And it\u2019s a far more productive way about going managing\u2026 going about managing the public\u2019s resources than we had been previously doing in this province.\n\nIn my opinion, the poaching problem is overstated. I\u2019m more concerned about habitat matters than I am about overhunting through poaching. There\u2019s some of it going on, there\u2019s no doubt about it and it\u2019s very disturbing to learn of animals that are being shot by poachers and killed illegally and so on. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s nearly the problem as a lot of people make it out to be.\n\nINTERVIEWER:\nYou mean\u2026\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nI believe that the efficiency of the conservation officers has increased. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a measure of an increase in poaching. And I know that the efficient manner in which their operating and the way they\u2019re working with local volunteer groups to try and curb poaching is having a deterrent effect, which is probably the most important role that they play. And I\u2019m particularly proud to work with the conservation officers in this region. They\u2019re very professional, and they\u2019re highly motivated, and very dedicated to their work. \n\nThe old yardstick for measuring success in wildlife management was measuring how many animals you killed, and if you killed more animals this year than you did last year, then you considered that it was a successful year. But more recently the better yardstick that\u2019s being used is to try and maintain quality wildlife populations that\u2019s healthy, viable wildlife populations with proper sex ratios and age class structures and to provide recreational\u2026 recreational user days to measure the success in the number of recreational days that are being provided from the wildlife resource.\n\nBritish Columbia has a lot of mountains and very few valley bottoms, and we have to look after the land that we have, because we\u2019re not gonna make any more land. The resource base is finite. What we have to do is find better ways of using the land. By far the biggest factor affecting wildlife anywhere in the province of British Columbia is land use and the health of their habitats. Hunting may in some instances cause local declines, but their more or less temporary. All you have to do is close the hunting season and if the habitats are intact, the animals will recover, but if the habitat\u2019s gone, than the wildlife population is gone as well.\n\nRemember what I said about numbers? Don\u2019t forget that if you get into the management business and you\u2019re working with somebody, get him to show ya his numbers. Or her numbers. Put them down. Make them accountable. What are you doing out there? You say you\u2019re managing your population for two thirds of caring capacity. What numbers are you working with? That\u2019s one thing.\n\nThe other thing is develop a good rapport with your users. Develop a good rapport with the other agencies. And above all, take care of the land. And that\u2019s a lesson that I learned from my former boss, Glen Smith, who put all of his effort and all of his energy and all of his attention into fighting for the land base in the Rocky Mountain trench, and preventing the alienation of the land. Because even though I might disagree with the forest service, I might disagree with the range division, I might disagree with BC Hydro, or any other agency, at least we\u2019ve got a sandbox to play in. And if the Rocky Mountain trench had been all chopped up, and subdivided, and sold, and put into housing and condominiums and whatever, there wouldn\u2019t be any Rocky Mountain trench winter ranges, there wouldn\u2019t be any resource problems to try and solve because they would\u2019ve been solved for us. Would\u2019ve been all for gone. \n\nSo the essential ingredient in the equation is the land, the land base. And with that, we\u2019ll call it quits. Thank you.\n\n(APPLAUSE)\n\nCARMEN PURDY:\nI give you Ray Demarchi. Stand up brother.\n\n(APPLAUSE)\n\nCARMEN PURDY:\nAlan Martin and Dave Phelps went to the K-Mart party, and were buying drink tickets before they realized they were in the wrong party. And somebody had some come up to them and tell \u2018em that.\n\n(LAUGHTER)\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nPhelps never bought a drink ticket in his life!\n\n(LAUGHTER)\n\nJOHN MURRAY:\nAnd I\u2019m proud to say that I think Crestbrook\u2019s team of some 65 people are now more conscious of their obligation to everybody, to do a better job, and to look after the elk resources better, and I think the testimonial is here in the fact that I think the game populations are improving in the East Kootenays. And I hope we\u2019re doing our part. We\u2019ve worked with Ray and his group on his elk-logging studies, so we could do a better job of logging, understand the game management. We\u2019ve participated in grizzly bear studies as well in the flathead and learned a great deal of when to log, where to log, and how to log. I guess, I know they say is that our obligation is to log, to try and keep the profitability of our company, but also we do have to try and cons\u2026 recognize the other values and protect them. And I hope Ray we\u2019ve achieved that objective, so with that, I\u2019ll shake your hand.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nThanks John.\n\nJOHN MURRAY:\nGood luck.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nThank you.\n\n(APPLAUSE)\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nThank you, John. Thank you.\n\nCARMEN PURDY:\nI must say this program tonight is going to be televised on the Knowledge Network through the Westland program on el number uno, individual. It\u2019s a Demarchi program, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s being televised. Parts of it will be used. It\u2019s a BC Wildlife Federation, in conjunction with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Mike Halleran, and Jeanne Halleran, and their family put the Westland program together. Mike can\u2019t be here, but he says, \u201cCongratulations on the anniversary. I\u2019ve sent the article you requested. Hope it arrives in good form. I hereby loan you one M14 and two taped banana clips as requested. Never before have I heard of someone going to his own testimonial dinner armed with an assault rifle. But naturally, when you give me an order, I did not hesitate. I did not debate or question. I carried it out instantly, as always. Incidentally, the filming for the Demarchi Westland special has gone well. Again, as per your request, we are changing the program title. It is now known as the Ray Redford Special. We\u2019ll discuss the matter of world television rights as soon as you\u2019re agent contacts me. It was a pleasure to work with you on the alpine ride portion of the filming. It was a new experience for me. Never before have Jeannie and Terry and I had to give up all our blankets to the star in order to keep him from leaving the set. I thank you for that opportunity to broaden my production experience. Just one thing: now that the shooting is over, remember that you are completely in my hands. At last. I love you partner. Mike Halleran.\u201d\n\n(APPLAUSE)\n\nDAVE MELANKA:\nIt took us eleven years for us to understand that we\u2019re goin\u2019 the same way and why not walk on the same path. Instead of confrontation we can come to a point where we had some communication. Ray, that took eleven years to get that far, the last nine years have been a honeymoon, and if you\u2019re to survive another 20 years, as it says here for better or worse, Crestbrook is gonna help you out.\n\nAUDIENCE MEMBER:\nMake you an offer you can\u2019t refuse.\n\nDAVE MELANKA:\nFirst of all, what we want to give you Ray, and\u2026 this is serious! We wanna give you a survivor\u2019s jacket. If you\u2019re lost in the woods, put this on and walk around, and the average helicopter pilot will spot you.\n\n(LAUGHTER)\n\nGAIL SUMANIK:\nRay Demarchi, 20 years as a wildlife biologist in the East Kootenays, and it\u2019s been almost the same amount of time since he arrived in the hearts and the lives of the Sumanik family. How could we not fall in love with such an exaggerated character. Nothing is commonplace about Ray, as you\u2019ve noticed. He acts and talks in hyperboles. The greatest, the funniest, the stupidest, the wisest, the biggest, the best, the best dressed. And as Mike Halleran said in his telegram that he sent, his life reads like the life of a movie star. Police investigations. Beautiful women. Tumultuous love life. Trips to exotic places like Karakas and Harrow Gate and Spillimacheen. Real National Enquirer material.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nThere\u2019s no wildlife program in North America that is as rich as this one. None. We\u2019re lucky here. We don\u2019t have many wildlife managers. We don\u2019t have many biologists, and you wonder how the hell can we have a program that could compete with an area where there\u2019s ten times as many biologists and ten times as many technicians. And the reason is that we\u2019ve had political freedom. You might criticize the hell out of the government and knock \u2018em for some of the projects that they\u2019ve done, and knock \u2018em for not recognizing wildlife and so on, but I can honestly say that in twenty years I have never had one bit of political interference in wildlife management in this region. Never once has an MLA, never once has a minister said, \u201cYou\u2019re not going to do that kind of thing. You\u2019re not gonna do this, you\u2019re gonna do this.\u201d They haven\u2019t even suggested, and we\u2019ve been lucky to be able to do that.\n\nBOBBY FONTANA:\nI read a book quite a while ago and I remember a few words from it and it was written by William T. Hornaday. It was \u201cCamp-Fires in the Canadian Rockies.\u201d And he hunted in the elk valley region of the East Kootenays in the\u2026 around the turn of the century, and shortly after he left here after taking the specimens he required for the New York museum, he suggested to the governments of British Columbia that with their liberal bag limits, etc. etc., that the big game season, the way it was, there probably wouldn\u2019t be any wildlife left in this part of the world for very many more years, so he set about getting a large, vast area of the elk valley shut down and made into a game reserve. I was thinking about that tonight hearing some of the comments that I happened to be able to hear having arrived late, and I realize that because of people like Ray, William Hornaday was out to lunch, and we can still go out there and do our thing, and I like to thank Ray Demarchi for that. Thank you. \n\nThat was totally adlibbed and I\u2019d like to get on with our presentation. Representing the East Kootenay Wildlife Association we have a number of people here. Barry Scott from Southern Guides, Glen Johnson from the Kootenay Hunters Association, Bill Dubois from the Invermere Rod and Gun Club, Dale Webber from the Elkford Rod and Gun Club, and Susan from the Kimberley Wildlife Association and the BC Wildlife Federation. We\u2019ve got a little gift for you Ray and I\u2019d like you to open the box.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nThanks very much. Thank you.\n\nCARMEN PURDY:\nIt\u2019s a new development in conibear traps. \n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nOh holy smoke. \n\nSPEAKER:\nGet your head in there Ray.\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nOh holy smokes. Ho, look at this. Woohoo! Woohoo!\n\n(APPLAUSE)\n\nCARMEN PURDY:\nRay Demarchi has had the chance to see his efforts produce truly positive results. Few conservationists get to see that. Ray Demarchi has been an inspiration to me and for many others. For him, the conservation ethic is not just some fad or passing fantasy, but a part of life itself. It gives me a great deal of preasure\u2026 pleasure today to salute publicly this friend of the wildlife resource and to recognize ya Ray as a true friend. Dammit, I wasn\u2019t gonna do this.\n\n(APPLAUSE)\n\n(TRUMPET MUSIC)\n\nRAY DEMARCHI:\nProbably the alpine is, at the right time of the year, the most comfortable place to be for me. It\u2026 it\u2019s quiet and it\u2019s beautiful. It\u2019s diverse. There\u2019s always lots of wildlife in the alpine, and there are very few people. Very little development in the alpine, in the Purcells or in the Rockies. And it\u2019s just a very pleasant place to be and it\u2019s a pleasant place to think about.\n\n(CALM SYNTH MUSIC)\n\nGuest Lecture: B.C. Institute of Technology; Ray Demarchi \"Roast\" (20 Years Service)
Westland; produced by: B.C. Wildlife Federation; funded by: Department of Fisheries & Oceans (Canada); series producer: Mike Halleran; photographed by: Terry Halleran, John Dowell; Production Assistant: Jeanne Halleran; Produced through the facilities of The Knowledge Network - 10-March - 1985","catalo":[],"projec":[],"aip":"947831ad-ad98-4d4a-bd9f-53081c7f8641","file":[],"doi":"1.0048247","dmcreated":"2012-10-19","dmmodified":"2022-12-21","dmrecord":"24"}