For interviews, contact:
Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, BC Chapter
tori@cpawsbc.org
(604) 685-7445 x24 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 5, 2020

Traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples/Vancouver, BC — The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, British Columbia (CPAWS-BC) is applauding a new initiative to hire young people into conservation jobs in BC. These new jobs, announced today by Environment Minister George Heyman, will help to safeguard nature across the province. 

“We’re happy to see more conservation jobs being created for young people at a time when our park system needs more support,” says Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner with CPAWS-BC.

“In the short term, these new jobs will help manage the impacts of increasing visitation on the outdoor places we love so much, by addressing long standing capacity issues within BC Parks,” she adds.

BC’s provincial parks were forced to shut down this spring due to concerns with understaffing and overcrowding, following a recent budget cut to operations earlier this year. Decades of underfunding to BC Parks has created a concerning shortage of staff as well as a significant backlog of maintenance issues and major delays in management planning for parks. 

“These new temporary positions will help provide much-needed capacity to support overworked park rangers, which will better safeguard nature and improve people’s experiences in the outdoors,” says Ball. 

“We hope to see continued investment in nature-based jobs and a commitment to a longer-term capacity increase for BC Parks, as part of the overall strategy to recover the province’s economy,” she adds. 

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For interviews, contact:

Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, BC Chapter
tori@cpawsbc.org
(604) 685-7445 x24

Resources

BC Government Media Release: Program offers young people work experience with BC Parks, COS (August 5, 2020)

About CPAWS-BC:

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – British Columbia Chapter (CPAWS-BC) protects wilderness in every corner of BC and deep into the ocean. CPAWS-BC supports the creation of large, well-managed, connected protected areas where native plants and animals thrive, now and forever; and where people and communities can live off the land and ocean without impacting the ability of future generations to do the same.

In the past 50+ years, CPAWS has played a lead role in protecting over half a million square kilometres – an area bigger than New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador put together.

For interviews, contact:
Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner
tori@cpawsbc.org
(604) 685-7445 x24

New report highlights opportunity to put nature protection at the heart of economic recovery in Canada

For Immediate Release

July 15, 2020

Unceded Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC — A new report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) recommends that nature protection is put at the heart of Canada’s COVID-19 recovery strategies. The report highlights the enormous potential of BC’s provincial parks to provide accessible and affordable outdoor activities, and outlines urgent challenges posed by decades of underfunding.

“It’s become very clear that BC’s parks are essential to our health and well-being. Safe, accessible outdoor recreation in parks is a proven way to boost mental health and reduce stress,” says Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner with CPAWS-BC. 

“Unfortunately, decades of funding for BC’s parks has left communities with inequitable access to nature, and continues to put wildlife at risk,” she says.

The BC Parks budget was cut by 4% this year, exacerbating issues such as understaffing across the province. This has restricted or cut core functions such as monitoring and enforcement, research, and education.

The provincial and federal governments are making decisions on spending to restart the economy and recover from the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. CPAWS-BC is advocating for an investment of economic recovery funding into BC’s parks to better support the needs of communities across the province.

“This is our chance to get it right. We know that nature conservation is a driver of economic growth and provides essential community benefits that help build a resilient global economy,” says Ball.

”Now more than ever, we need to invest in these places so that our communities will be more resilient and better supported in the long run,” adds Ball.

CPAWS-BC’s recommendations to the Government of British Columbia:

• Invest immediately in BC Parks, increasing staff capacity for visitor management, ecological monitoring, and management planning to better recognize the critical role that parks play in supporting our health, our communities, and our environment.
• Support Indigenous-led conservation initiatives that enable reconciliation with Indigenous nations, protection and recovery of species at risk, and build sustainable long-term jobs in rural and remote communities

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For interviews, contact:
Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner
tori@cpawsbc.org
(604) 685-7445 x24

Download Media Release PDF

Additional Resource:

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. (July 15 2020). Healthy Nature Healthy People. https://cpawsbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/CPAWS-Parks-Report-2020-ENG.pdf

For interview, please contact:

Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner

604-685-7445 x 24

tori@cpawsbc.org 

B.C.’s parks critical for recovery, desperate for resources

For Immediate Release

May 6, 2020

Traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples/Vancouver BC – On Wednesday, the B.C. government announced that they will begin to reopen BC Parks on May 14th as part of a multi-staged plan to reopen B.C. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s BC Chapter (CPAWS-BC) is encouraged by this news, and recommends immediate action and investment by the province to support our struggling provincial parks system to be able to keep people safe.

“Consistent underfunding of BC Parks over decades has created long-standing issues with failing and unsafe infrastructure,” says Bruce Passmore, Executive Director of CPAWS-BC. “Under-resourced and overworked staff has left parks ill-equipped to handle a surge in visitors at the best of times.”

Provincial parks have been off-limits to the public since April 8th. BC Parks has had limited resources and an overall lack of capacity to support physical distancing measures, and to maintain visitor facilities to a standard that would meet public health guidelines. Numerous surveys over the past month have concluded that most people across the province want to see the reopening of parks prioritized.

“The current public health crisis has put a spotlight on these long-standing issues. It has highlighted the urgent need for the province to invest in BC Parks to carefully plan for improving visitor safety and the conservation of nature in these places we love,” adds Passmore.

“Investment in parks and outdoor recreation should be a priority for the B.C. government to support our health and wellbeing,” says Passmore. “Unfortunately, the BC Parks budget was cut by 4% this year, which has put extra pressure on our parks while demand for outdoor recreation continues to surge.”

CPAWS-BC is urging the government to direct some of the economic recovery funding to BC Parks to hire more people into front-line park jobs, and to improve park infrastructure like trails, campgrounds and other visitor facilities. This will help build a robust park system that will support the health and safety of British Columbians using these spaces during the current pandemic and well into the future.

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For interview, contact:

Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner

604-685-7445 x 24

About CPAWS-BC:

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – British Columbia Chapter (CPAWS-BC) protects wilderness in every corner of BC and deep into the ocean. CPAWS-BC supports the creation of large, well-managed, connected protected areas where native plants and animals thrive, now and forever; and where people and communities can live off the land and ocean without impacting the ability of future generations to do the same.

In the past 50+ years, CPAWS has played a lead role in protecting over half a million square kilometres – an area bigger than New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador put together.

Ready to Take Action?

Tell Premier Horgan and Finance Minister Carole James to Invest in BC Parks to support green jobs, healthy lifestyles and keep wildlife safe.