VANCOUVER – A new draft plan for species at risk released today by the BC government, just days after the legislature finished sitting, fails to provide meaningful or enforceable strategies for recovering vulnerable wildlife, says the Wilderness Committee.

The glossy 40-page document, entitled Species At Risk: A Draft Five-Year Plan for British Columbia, outlines the importance of biodiversity and wildlife species in the province and lays out the government’s “themes for success” in protecting vulnerable species, but is vague on specific and enforceable actions. The BC government also launched a public comment period that is less than four weeks.

“The pamphlet looks very pretty, but its beauty is only skin deep,” said Gwen Barlee, Policy Director with the Wilderness Committee. “There appears to be no funding provided, and I see no explicit strategy or enforceable mechanisms to actually ensure the survival and recovery of species at risk. This is a lovely glossy document but endangered species in BC need more than public relations spin. It is a recipe for extinction.”

BC is one of only two provinces in Canada with no stand-alone legislation to protect endangered species, despite being home to 1,900 species at risk – more than any other province. For 86 per cent of those species, habitat loss is the primary threat. Environmental groups in BC are calling for an endangered species law based on best science, habitat protection and robust enforcement provisions.

"The 'public consultation' process is laughable," said Barlee. "It is less than a month long, it has been introduced just two months before a provincial election date and it centered around a document that has very very little substance. This is a cosmetic process at best and deceptive at worst."

While the draft document repeatedly states the government’s intention to improve species conservation and management, it contains no explicit strategy for survival and recovery of endangered species and emphasizes many of the same voluntary guidelines and fragmented policies that are currently failing to protect species in BC. Most importantly, the plan includes no commitment to a stand-alone provincial law to protect species.

“This plan poses the question, ‘What if BC species have what they need to survive and thrive?’ Sadly, the BC government doesn’t provide it in this document,” said Barlee. “While the document contains some good ideas for monitoring and reporting on results, it appears to promote vague ‘talking points’ rather than an actual plan to recover endangered species in British Columbia.”