A key campaign of the Wilderness Committee, spear-headed by our Mid-Vancouver Island Chapter, is the expansion of world famous McMillan Provincial Park on Vancouver Island to include all of the big trees of Cathedral Grove.
In 2005 a part of that dream was realized when the provincial government announced the expansion of the park by about 140 hectares. However, much more expansion remains to be done. Unfortuately, at the time the government was at the time concidering clearing a swath of forest to build a parking lot in the park - something the Wilderness Committee opposed. As of 2009, the plans to build a parking lot have been scrapped.
Coming from Germany on a Biology Internship, I spent three months in the Wilderness Committee office mapping critical habitat for the endangered seabird, the Marbled Murrelet. My work involved data and statistical analysis, quantifying habitat variables, assessing habitat quality and conducting road density calculations. I also spent some great time in the wilderness doing research.