Grow BC Parks

Fifty-eight scientists, organizations, businesses and advocates across British Columbia are calling for a major expansion of BC’s Parks and Protected Areas to preserve biodiversity and take meaningful action on climate change.

The stunning ecosystems of Canada’s most biodiverse province are gravely threatened by extreme environmental degradation and fragmentation. Habitat loss has contributed to over 1,800 documented Species at Risk in BC alone, and the rapid loss of indicator species such as BC’s iconic Mountain Caribou warns of complete ecosystem collapse that also threatens human survival.

The Grow BC Parks Coalition is petitioning the Provincial and First Nation governments of British Columbia to immediately protect BC’s remaining intact natural areas by increasing Class A parks and legislated Tribal Parks to 30% of the provincial landbase. The coalition is calling for an additional 20% of the provincial landbase to be protected in conservation areas legislated for carbon storage/sequestration and biodiversity preservation, in line with leading scientists’ recommendations.

Scientists predict that half of the terrestrial realm must be rapidly preserved to save the planet from biodiversity and climate crisis, but the province is quickly converting the last of British Columbia’s old growth forests and other biodiverse, carbon storing ecosystems to biologically impoverished tree farms. This devastating loss contributes more carbon emissions to the atmosphere than even fossil fuel use in British Columbia, and is a driving factor in BC’s extinction crisis. BC is running out of time to preserve its ecological legacy and its most resilient remaining ecosystems that are necessary to sustain life in the coming decades of change.

Many groups are lobbying for more protected areas but are faced with major government inaction at a time when ecological protection is needed more than ever.

Please join the movement and speak up for change!

 

 

Four ways you can help:

1) Please sign and share the online petition to increase BC’s protected areas.

2) Collect signatures on the paper petition to the legislature!

3) Distribute Grow BC Parks decals to help spread the word (email vws@vws.org to order decals for car bumpers etc.)

4) Contact the ministers to let them know if you want a major parks expansion:

 

 

The Honourable David Eby Premier of British Columbia East Annex, Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Phone: 250 387-1715, Fax: 250 387-0087 E-mail: premier@gov.bc.ca	The Honourable Bruce Ralston Minister of Forests PO Box 9049 Stn Prov Govt Victoria, BC V8W 9E2 Phone: 250 387-6240, Fax: 250 387-1040 E-mail: FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
The Honourable George Heyman Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy PO Box 9047 Stn Prov Gov Victoria, BC V8W 9E2 Phone: 250 387-1187, Fax: 250 387-1356 E-mail: ENV.minister@gov.bc.ca	The Honourable Nathan Cullen Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship Room 310 Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC  V8V 1X4 Phone: 778 405-3094, Fax: 250 387-4312 E-mail: LWRS.Minister@gov.bc.ca

 

Grow BC Parks Coalition

 

Valhalla Wilderness Society Wolf Awareness Inc BC Nature Mt Willet Wilderness Forever Lifeforce Foundation Strathcona Wilderness Institute Ymir Community Watershed Society Friends of West Kootenay Parks Society SeaLegacy Friends of the Lardeau River Zoocheck Canada Comox Valley Nature Canadian Society of Environmental Biologists Valhalla Foundation for Ecology Wildlife Defence League Pacific Wild Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society Williams Lake Climate Action Coalition Get Bear Smart Society The Fur-Bearers Spectacled Bears Conservation Society Speak Up For Wildlife Foundation Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Center Morgan Rauscher – Professor, Green Technology Ray Maichin – Conservationist, Photographer Ryan Simmonds – Wildlife Guide, Naturalist Trevor Goward – Lichenologist Anita den Dikken – Wildlife Conservationist Evelyn Kirkaldy – Artist, Bear Smart Educator On Root Project

Dr. Gosia Bryja – Conservation Scientist Justice for BC Grizzlies George Rammell – Artist Stop Animal Brutality Briony Penn – Author, Ecologist Reno Sommerhalder – Bear Guide, Author Antreas Pogiatzis – Biologist Megin Peake – Volunteer Coordinator at the Strathcona Wilderness Institute DeerSafe, Kelly Carson Matthew Waterhouse – Biologist, Okanagan College Tyson Ehlers – Forest Ecologist Lisa Dahlseide – Conservation Biologist Animal Protection Party Holly Arntzen, Artist Response Team Len Vanderstar – R.P.Bio, RCGS Fellow Judy Malone, Tourists Against Trophy Hunting Melissa Hart – Inland Temperate Rainforest Campaigner Jim Pojar – Forest Ecologist Waya Aeon – Assistant Bear Guide Barbara Brown – Artist Fluidpower Health and Performance Ocean Light II Adventures Ltd Maple Leaf Adventures Kootenay Reflections Photography Ocean Adventures Charter Co. Ltd. Steve Williamson Photography Cottonwood Falls Animal Clinic Bears Matter Consulting

 

The Grow BC Parks Coalition would like to thank the Glasswaters Foundation and other donors for supporting the campaign to increase BC’s protected areas.