Write Wild - BC's Provincial Parks

British Columbia is renowned for it vast wilderness and magnificent wildlife and an amazing park system that covers almost 14 per cent of the province. From the grasslands of the interior to the rainforests of the coast our parks and protected areas offer a place for us to reconnect with nature, dip our toes in a cool stream or take a walk in an old-growth forest.

Our protected areas provide us with a wealth of benefits including recreational opportunities, beauty and invaluable ecosystem services. Healthy forest purify our water, clean our air and help protect us against climate change. Bees pollinate our crops and intact wetlands protect us against flooding. Safeguarding our parks helps to retain these invaluable services and help ensure that future generations have the same opportunity to enjoy the natural world that we do.

Unfortunately BC’s protected area system is at risk. Years of under-funding and poor management have resulted in the very core of our protected area system, ecological integrity, being threatened.

Please take a minute to write a letter to the Minister of Environment, Terry Lake today to explain how you feel about the importance of preserving BC’s 1,000 parks and protected areas.

Your Name: *

Your Email Address: *

Please join the Wilderness Committee in asking the provincial government to:

Double the operational budget for BC Parks as recommended by the government-appointed Park Legacy Panel;
Increase the amount of full time BC park rangers from the current 10 to at least 100 rangers.
Implement the recommendations of the BC Auditor General to protect the ecological integrity of our park system;
Strengthen park protection laws to ensure ecological integrity of protected areas is first and foremost; and,
Reinstate government-funded interpretive programs.
BC parks more than pay for themselves. A report commissioned by the provincial government in 2001 shows that “for each dollar invested by government in our protected area system, there were about $10 in visitor expenditures.”
Although provincial parks and protected areas make up almost 14% of the land-base scientists recommend that 40-50% of the land base needs to be safeguarded to retain invaluable ecosystem services, help us fight against climate change and to provide habitat for endangered species such as grizzly bears and badgers.
Please make our Provincial Parks' a priority, by supporting them with the funding and management recommended by the Auditor General, so they may continue to be places of natural wonder for future generations of British Columbians.

My Letter: *

Submitted by sven on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 18:40