Keremeos Review
Published: May 05, 2009 7:00 PM

The Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club BC last week released a freedom of information document which shows that a comment made this week by Environment Minister Barry Penner regarding the number of rangers in BC Parks is wildly erroneous.
Minister Penner, responding to criticisms regarding recent park ranger staffing cuts, said in a media interview two days ago that the number of “rangers on-duty for the spring and summer will likely drop from 225 full-time equivalent positions last year to about 200 in 2009”.

The FOI document reveals Penner exaggerated the number of ranger positions by over 300 percent. According to the document, there were just 63.8 full-time equivalent ranger positions in BC Parks in 2006/07 even before the latest round of cuts – just a fraction of the 225 full-time equivalent ranger positions Minister Penner erroneously said existed.

The document also shows B.C. has just 10 regular full-time equivalent park ranger positions year-round – a 60 percent decline from 2001 when there were 26 regular full-time equivalent rangers.

Recent information provided by the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union reveals the most recent cuts will reduce current park ranger positions by an additional 40 percent – leaving less than 50 full-time equivalent rangers positions to patrol 13.5 million hectares of protected areas.

“I am amazed at the numbers Minister Penner put out. Park rangers are becoming an endangered species in B.C.,” said Gwen Barlee, policy director for the Wilderness Committee. “There are fewer regular full-time park rangers left in B.C. than there are Vancouver Island marmots which are in danger of dying out altogether in our province.”

George Heyman, Executive Director of Sierra Club B.C., said it is shameful that B.C. has the equivalent of only one regular full-time park ranger for every 1.3 million hectares of its stunning parks and protected areas.

“The B.C. government will spend $1.5 billion in public subsidies for the oil and gas industry over the next three years, yet it claims to have no money for adequate staffing of our parks and protected areas which receive almost 20 million visits every single year. We risk destroying our natural legacy by slashing parks staffing yet again.”

Controversy about the management of B.C.’s 972 parks and protected areas has dogged the Liberal administration. A series of unpopular measures, including initiatives to allow resort development within park boundaries, installing parking meters, weakening the Parks Act and changing park boundaries to allow for industrial development, together with dramatic budget and staff cuts, have resulted in sustained public criticism.

Much of the government’s rationale for cutbacks in parks is premised on the mistaken notion that parks don’t pay for themselves. However, a 2001 government report shows that for every $1 the government spends on protected areas in B.C. more than $10 is returned to local economies through visitor expenditures.