CPAWS-BC Press Room

NEWS UPDATE: August 23, 2010 – B.C.’s Auditor General says B.C. lacks the plans necessary to protect nature in B.C.’s parks and protected areas. In the report, the Auditor General finds that despite a sound vision of parks protection, the government falls short in actual plans for protecting parks. Download the report.

CPAWS REACTION: We’re heartened by the Auditor General’s findings. B.C. Parks suffer from chronic underfunding. It’s time for B.C. to properly care for these precious ecosystems and beautiful parks. We hope the B.C. government takes the recommendations of the Auditor General to heart and moves quickly to plan, implement and appropriately fund our parks system, on the eve of B.C. Parks 100th anniversary. It’s not a priority to nurture protected areas. It’s a necessity. Keeping wild places intact is the simple solution to our current and future environmental problems in British Columbia.

–Chloe O’Loughlin, CPAWS-BC Executive Director

See the Vancouver Sun story: http://www.vancouversun.com/Environment+ministry+failing+preserve+parks+auditor+general+finds/3433336/story.html
Photos: Mike Beedell

Brasilia, Brazil - A report commissioned by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is calling for a "conservation and wildlife management plan" for the transboundary Flathead and a new management plan for the Flathead River Valley that "gives priority to natural ecological values and wildlife conservation."

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and 10 other conservation groups petitioned the World Heritage Committee to draw attention to threats posed to the Waterton-Glacier World Heritage Site by proposed energy and mining development in the adjacent Flathead.

Press Release

Download full report (2 MB)

Story on theglobeandmail.com

Photo - Harvey Locke 

Obama, PM to protect Flathead Valley

By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun June 30, 2010

U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper used the G20 Summit in Toronto to commit to helping fulfil the "historic" terms of a memorandum of understanding between B.C. and Montana to protect the transboundary Flathead River Valley.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Obama+protect+Flathead+Valley/3219294/story.html#ixzz0sMD1qlIs

Photo: Joe Riis, iLCP

NEWS RELEASE
June 7, 2010

Parliamentary breakthrough for Canada’s first deep sea national marine conservation area:
B.C.’s revered Gwaii Haanas waters a step closer to protection

OTTAWA – After two decades of discussion, CPAWS welcomes the long-awaited legislation expected to be introduced in the House of Commons today by Environment Minister Jim Prentice to finalize Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve. This 3,000 km2 rich ecological area is nestled off the shores of B.C.’s much-revered Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, on Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Islands).

NEWS RELEASE

June 8, 2010

Canada moves to protect B.C.’s precious Glass Sponge Reefs:
Fragile, prehistoric reefs considered a submerged “Jurassic Park”

OTTAWA – CPAWS celebrates the long-awaited announcement today that B.C.’s extremely fragile Glass Sponge Reefs are headed for permanent protection. Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, has declared an “Area of Interest” for a future Marine Protected Area around the reefs, considered one of the great wonders in Canada’s oceans.

Groups sign world’s largest conservation agreement 

Twenty-one member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and nine leading environmental groups, including CPAWS, unveiled an unprecedented agreement that applies to 72 million hectares of public forests licensed to FPAC members. This agreement will conserve significant areas of Canada's vast Boreal Forest, protect threatened woodland caribou and provide a competitive market edge for participating companies.  READ MORE

Boreal Caribou in B.C.

Photo: Wayne Sawchuk

Congratulations to all CPAWS supporters!

In a surprise move, the B.C. government ordered a complete ban on mining activity in the Flathead Valley. It's great news for CPAWS and all our supporters, as we've waged a three-decade long battle to protect the Flathead. Congratulations to all who wrote letters and supported the campaign financially. 

This Rocky Mountain valley is home to the greatest density of grizzly bears in the interior of North America, along with the complete native suite of predators and prey, like wolves and elk.

The B.C. government announced the mining ban in its Throne Speech, along with a new working relationship with Montana to protect the transborder wilderness that extends into the United States.

The Flathead Valley is nestled in the southeast corner of British Columbia, above and beside Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a World Heritage Site and United Nations Biosphere Reserve. The Flathead's major river flows south to form the western border of the peace park in Montana. Mining would have hurt the purity of that river water and ultimately damaged the larger ecosystem. (Photo: Harvey Locke)

JANUARY 16, 2010

Vancouver – CPAWS was pleased that today the Council of the Haida Nation and the Government of Canada, represented by Parks Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, signed a long-awaited agreement to cooperatively manage the proposed Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area.

Photo: Sabine Jessen

DECEMBER 17, 2009

THE NEW YORK TIMES-  A Canadian mining company's discovery last week of high-grade gold deposits north of Glacier National Park has raised alarm among environmentalists that development of the deposits could imperil Montana's Flathead River Valley and fragment North America's most prized grizzly habitat.  READ FULL ARTICLE

Photo: Harvey Locke

Eyes of World Focus on Flathead Following United Nations Visit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 3, 2009

Fernie, BC -East Kootenay residents support a National Park in the southeastern one-third of B.C.'s Flathead River Valley at a rate of 2 to 1, according to a poll released Today.