My husband and I want to pack up tonight to head out camping. Doing research we discovered new campgrounds that we had not known existed. We were excited and elated. Proud of BC. Proud of Vancouver Island. Then I turned to an article from the Globe & Mail about parks. Sickeningly, B.C. was listed as making the worst decisions regarding preserving wilderness parks.
I quote: “Leading CPAW’s list of government decisions that could negatively affect wilderness areas were changes made in March to the British Columbia Parks Act. They allow industrial research in B.C.’s parks and make it easier to adjust parks boundaries for pipelines and other development.
The B.C. government says it is simply authorizing research to gain a better understanding of the effects of human activity. And the research permits are issued only for low-impact activities like soil sampling or installing gauges, said Dave Crebo, a spokesman for the province’s Ministry of Environment.
“’But’, Ms. Woodley says, the changes are ‘a big problem and undermine the fundamental principle that parks are to be protected from industrial development forever.’”
I knew about this but in the busyness of my daily life, awareness of it had slipped away. I just want to encourage us to be aware and concerned. Lest we forget.
Ruth McMonagle
Campbell River
