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3rd Annual Day of Action - Sunday, August 19th
by WCWC Media •
Monday August 20, 2007 at 04:13 PM
Vancouver, British Columbia ~ For the third year in a row, a series of information pickets protesting privatization and under-funding of BCs parks will be launched on Sunday August 19 by several prominent environmental groups ...
For Immediate Release – August 17, 2007
Provincial Day of Action in BCs Parks
3rd Annual Day of Action to protest under-funding and privatization of Parks
Vancouver, British Columbia ~ For the third year in a row, a series of information pickets protesting privatization and under-funding of BCs parks will be launched on Sunday August 19 by several prominent environmental groups.
The protests will occur at seven provincial parks around the Lower Mainland, on Vancouver Island and in the Interior of British Columbia. The groups will be at parks to talk with hundreds of park visitors and gather signatures in defence of BCs protected area system.
The groups include the Burke Mountain Naturalists, Fraser Headwaters Alliance, Friends of Rathtrevor Park, Friends of Strathcona Park, Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society, Sierra Club – BC Chapter, the Wilderness Committee, and the British Columbia Government Service Employees Union (BCGEU), the union representing park rangers.
"In 2007, British Columbia has just 10 full-time park rangers to oversee the entire province, and operational funding is as low as it was in 1994 when our park system was half the size," said Gwen Barlee, policy director for the Wilderness Committee. "Despite the provinces economic prosperity, our park system is in danger of falling apart because it is being starved of funding and staff."
The day of action wont be limited to protests and pickets: in Mount Robson Provincial Park Fraser Headwaters Alliance director Keith Berg will be bringing along his crowd-pleasing alp-horn – a twelve foot long wooden horn. Once used by Swiss herdsmen to announce daily activities, and made popular in the Ricola TV commercials, on Sunday it will be used to draw attention to the threats facing BCs park system.
"Mt. Robson Park is the flagship of the BC Park system and a World heritage Site. Its on a par with Jasper and Banff but receives a small fraction of the funding", said Roy Howard of Fraser Headwaters Alliance. "It should at least get enough for proper staffing."
The management of BCs parks has dogged the provincial government. A series of unpopular measures, including initiatives to allow resort development within park boundaries, installing parking meters, weakening the Parks Act, changing park boundaries to allow for industrial development together with dramatic budget and staff cuts have resulted in sustained public criticism.
“BCs parks cant live on empty promises. Trails are falling apart, park rangers have become an endangered species and privatization is knocking at the door,” commented Jens Wieting of Sierra Club. “If we want a park system that we can hand down to our children we need to properly invest in one.”
Much of the governments rationale for cutbacks and private development in provincial parks is premised on the erroneous notion that parks dont pay for themselves and that user-fees are required to offset funding shortfalls. However, a 2001 government report shows that for every $1 the government spends on protected areas in BC, over $10 are returned to local economies through visitor expenditures.
“Its clear to everyone that privatization and staffing cuts have taken an enormous toll on our parks,” said BCGEU President George Heyman. “The government should use some of the provincial budget surplus to reverse the damage before its too late.”
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For more information, please contact:
Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee, (Vancouver) 604-202-0322 @ Shannon Falls Park
Joan Varley, Wilderness Committee (Victoria), 250-213-1674 @ Goldstream Park
Jens Wieting, Sierra Club – BC Chapter (Victoria), 250-889-9605 @ Goldstream Park
Annette Tanner, Wilderness Committee (mid Vancouver Island), 250-240-7470 @ Cathedral Grove Parks
Steve Smith, Friends of Strathcona Park, (mid Vancouver Island) 250-337-8220 @ Strathcona Park parking lot near Mt. Washington
Berni Pearce, Friends of Rathrevor Park, (mid Vancouver Island) 250-248-8464 @ Rathtrevor Park
Keith Berg, Fraser Headwaters Alliance, (central Rocky Mountain region) 250-968-4463 @ Mount Robson Park main parking lot
Mike Meheriuk, Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society (Okanagan), 250-494-5331 @ Sun-Oka Park
Elaine Golds, Burke Mountain Naturalists, (Port Coquitlam) 604-937-3483
Evan Stewart, BC Government Service Employees Union, 604-291-9611
The information pickets will start at 11:00 AM on Sunday August 19, 2007.
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