Protecting Wild Lands

Fish Lake (Teztan Biny in the Tsilhqot’in language) is a mountain lake, located on the Chilcotin Plateau, 125 kilometers west of Williams Lake British Columbia, Canada.

Manitobans are fortunate to still have vast expanses of intact, representative ecosystems within our province. These wild lands provide ecosystem services – byproducts of healthy and natural wild areas – to maintain our own health through clean air and clean water.

Stretching from the east side of Manitoba’s Lake Winnipeg far into the province of Ontario is one of the greatest natural areas left on earth. The Heart of the Boreal is a vast wilderness filled with jack pine-covered granite ridges, black spruce and tamarack lowlands, and more lakes than you can imagine.

The Wilderness Committee has worked on boreal forest research and protection for decades. We were inspired to take action because the boreal forest makes up over half of Canada, is threatened on multiple levels by numerous industrial activities such as the tar sands, and has many wildlife and plants that are declining.

British Columbia, Canada is home to some of the Earth's most spectacular, ancient temperate forests, including the world's largest Douglas fir tree (the Red Creek Fir) and second-largest western red cedar tree (the Cheewhat Cedar).

This region in the southwest mainland of British Columbia (see map) encompasses the areas commonly referred to as the Fraser Canyon area, the upper Fraser Valley area, the Harrison Lake area, and the Chilliwack Lake area. The Wilderness Committee believes that in order to conserve species at risk, as well as places important for outdoor recreation, the BC government must take steps now to expand the protected area system adjoining the boundaries of Manning and Skagit Provincial Parks.

It's one of Canada's greatest conservation opportunities! It's the campaign to protect Canada's desert, grasslands and ponderosa pine forests in southern BC. The federal and BC governments are currently looking at establishing a new national park reserve in the hot, dry South Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys around the towns of Osoyoos and Keremeos in southern British Columbia.

The Wilderness Committee currently works together with the St’at’imc and the Tsilhqot’in Nation on protection of wilderness and strengthening of native practices and culture in the Cayoosh, Bendor, and South Chilcotin mountain ranges.

Since the early 1980s the Wilderness Committee has been working with like-minded environmental groups to protect the intact ancient forested valleys of Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. (see map)

We are seeking protection for 68,000 hectares of ancient forests.