March 15, 2018

Wild Times by Joe Foy

All small towns have their favourite secret places – swimming holes, picnic places, lookouts etc. On a recent trip to the Philippines, I was struck by the way this beautiful island nation uses its favourite places to integrate nature protection and community development. Several towns that my wife and I visited had an impressive selection of nearby nature-based experiences for all income levels, interests, and abilities.

By visiting these local favourites, we helped to provide income to the people who transported, guided, and housed us.

This relationship between nature protection and community financial support has resulted in many becoming strong advocates for environmental preservation.

While the Philippines does have a wealth of world-renowned natural landscapes, what is really interesting is how smaller natural features are used to benefit community-based tourism throughout the nation. This is something that BC does not do as well – and we could and should step up our game because the payoff in increased community support for nature protection is significant.

The key is locating and developing natural attractions near existing communities. I am talking about providing simple access – a short trail, a small parking area and some simple signage, for example.

The types of wild places we visited in the Philippines included small lakes, mountain trails, waterfalls, caves, hot springs,coral reefs, river canyons and beaches.

The natural ecosystems these wild areas conserved were very interesting. But it was the human communities being supported by this type of tourism that caught my interest. Mostly it was small-scale operators like the motorcycle taxi drivers, the mom and pop cottages and beach restaurants that benefitted. Sometimes it was community organized, like the village cave guides.

Back home in BC I couldn’t help but think of the amazing variety of wild places that visitors would love to see if given the opportunity. Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to do a day trip to see salmon spawning in a Pitt Meadows stream, or traditional salmon drying at Yale or hike up to a waterfall near Chilliwack? BC does already have nature-based tourism of course but sometimes we forget that scenes of wild abundance like the great eagle gatherings at Brackendale and Chehalis or the ancient cedar trees at Whistler no longer exist in many other parts of the world.

Separate from our provincial parks, the BC government should put its mind to designating, protecting, and developing more opportunities for nature-based tourism that will benefit community members through sharing BC’s small town secrets.

Joe Foy is the national campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, Canada’s largest membership-based wilderness preservation organization.

To see original article in the Watershed Sentinel click here.