Seven years ago the idea of a national park in the South Okanagan surfaced, and the tug of war between supporters and opponents continues as they use the federal government as their rope.

Recently a poll that was organized by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, and conducted by McAllister Opinion Research showed no major revolts to the idea of the national park. Of the random 405 South Okanagan-Similkameen residents surveyed, 63 per cent said they were in favour of protecting a portion of the South Okanagan-Similkameen through a national park.

A total of 95 per cent of those polled also said it’s important to protect the ecosystem in the South Okanagan, and put it above the economy in issues that are of concern in the region.

The proposed park area, running south from Oliver and west to Keremeos and beyond, is Canada’s only “pocket desert” and is said to be the home of birds, mammals and plants that can be found nowhere else in Canada, with over one-third of them on British Columbia’s threatened and endangered lists.

“It’s the most deserving place for a national park,” biologist Dick Cannings said. “It has this combination of diversity, richness and rarity, it’s very sensitive habitat. These grasslands especially, it’s just spectacular.”

The area also has a rich heritage when it comes to the people who have inhabited the area over the years and used the landscape to make a living. Ranching, mining, agriculture, logging, the fur trade and First Nations have all contributed to the area’s legacy, and it seems the battle between those at either end of the rope has come down to whether or not to preserve its story or continue to let it write itself.

“If we don’t protect it, in 20 years we are going to wake up and say ‘oh my God, why didn’t we do the right thing,’” said Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee policy director. “It’s frustrating because you keep hoping that in the next six months the federal government is going to make a positive decision.”

Depending on who you are talking to, the criteria of a positive decision surrounding the conflict has its differences.

“As far as we are concerned it’s a dead issue,” said Greg Norton of the Grassland Park Review Coalition. “We’re just waiting for Parks Canada to wake up and kill the thing.”

The proposed park area encompasses some already protected areas under the Land Resource Management Plan, which Norton feels is more than adequate, and anything further will just hinder business and recreation opportunities.

“What the LRMP manage to do is reflect the community activities both historically and for the future,” Norton said. “Parks Canada is just straight exclusion, and the vast majority of us will be thrown out.”

Co-ordinator for the South Okanagan-Similkameen National Park Network Doreen Olson said there has been a lot of misinformation surrounding the park.

“Those who are opposed are admittedly opposed, and they come with their reasons,” Olson said. “Some of them are valid and some of them are just outrageous because they aren’t the facts.”

With the creation of a national park in the South Okanagan some things that go on in the area now would have to be limited or eliminated. Livestock grazing would have to be reduced in order to meet objectives for ecological integrity, and hunting, mining and off-road motorized recreation are activities that would come to an end if the national park is formed.

However, access and most self-propelled activities would be allowed under the rule of a national park. Horseback riding, backpacking, fishing, biking, swimming and boating are some of the activities that are encouraged within park boundaries.

“I think some people think the land is going to get expropriated or everything is going to be taken away,” said Chloe O’Loughlin, executive director of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s B.C. chapter. “But that’s not true at all.”

“It’s one of the most endangered ecosystems in all of Canada,” she added. “And we think (the federal government) has all the information they need to announce they are moving forward to the next step of park establishment.”