Fernie Nature Tours: A Local Social Enterprise February 6, 2012
Posted by ryland in : Wildsight , add a commentThis winter Fernie Nature Tours is stepping into a new phase of social responsibility. Fernie Nature Tours has recently made the shift from an independently owned business to a social enterprise of the Wildsight Elk Valley Branch. A social enterprise applies an entrepreneurial approach to addressing social or environmental issues and creating positive community change. In this new partnership, all proceeds generated from Fernie Nature Tours will go directly to supporting the Wildsight Elk Valley Branch.
Lee Anne Walker, a local dedicated interpreter, started Fernie Nature Tours over 10 years ago. With her creative and inspirational approach, Lee Anne has crafted a variety of nature experiences within the Elk Valley. A passionate nature enthusiast, Lee Anne has operated Fernie Nature Tours under the philosophy that helping people to experience the outdoors will increase their appreciation and sense of stewardship for our natural spaces. Now, guests can experience nature, while supporting Wildsight to help protect biodiversity and create healthy sustainable communities.
Come out and explore the winter landscapes at your doorstep through exciting programs ranging from snowshoe tours at Mount Fernie Provincial Park, Fernie Alpine Resort, and Island Lake Lodge, snow shelter building, stargazing and fondue!
Join us for the next part of Fernie Nature Tours journey as a program of Wildsight.
For more information or to book please visit:
Gerald Amos: No Apology Forthcoming January 11, 2012
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedRecently there has been a lot of criticism by supporters of the tar sands, and oil industry front groups, of Canadian non-profit organizations who have concerns regarding the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project, and the fact that they receive support from U.S. philanthropic foundations.
Ethical Oil.org, and Our Decsion.ca, oil industry front groups with close ties to the Prime Ministers office, recently launched attack ads in northern communities, where opposition to the Enbridge project is fiercest. This desperate attempt to change the minds and hearts of the hundreds of thousands of people who oppose this project, is driven by more than concern for our home and native land. It is being driven by greed and desperation.
The foreign interest groups Canadians should really be concerned about are the Chinese oil companies investing billions in the Tar Sands, and the multinational oil companies like Shell and British Petroleum, who are investing 200 million dollars trying to sell Canadians on this astoundingly stupid idea.
Ezra Levant, Stephen Harper and Minister Oliver should study history a bit. The First Nations of Northern BC including the Haisla have been fighting to protect this coast for decades. This proposed project is just one of many we will have ended up stopping. The insinuation that northern communities, and especially First Nations, can be bought by U.S. interests is paternalistic and insulting; if not some new iteration of hypocrisy that can only be characterized as soft core racism.
The Haisla have been fighting to protect this region from ill-conceived industrial developments for over thirty years, while at the same time showing leadership in developing projects that are safer and more sustainable, and that benefit all British Columbians. Our history in this regard is well known, be it our efforts to reform logging practices, pollution from industrial plants, or our successful efforts to protect the worlds largest remaining intact coastal temperate rainforest, the Kitlope Valley.
The fact that our conservation leadership has attracted the support of conservation funders should be a source of pride for British Columbians. We do not follow the lead of anyone, we assume and take responsibility for our lands and lead others in that regard.
We are not opposed to development. But we are opposed to stupidity and placing our homelands at terrible risk in order to satisfy the insatiable greed of the international oil industry. We do not accept the Prime Ministers claim that this project is in Canada’s national interest, and it is certainly not nation building, but rather, planet destroying.
Haisla were the lead in developing the LNG project in Kitimat, the largest new industrial development in the north in thirty years. Natural gas is the cleanest hydrocarbon available, tar sands oil is the dirtiest. My community’s decision to support natural gas development and oppose a tar sands pipeline is a considered and informed decision consistent with our ancestral responsibilities as First Nations who have never surrendered title to these lands. Yes, we need and want jobs. Long term, permanent, sustainable jobs we can be proud of, not six months of digging ditches for a tar sands pipe, or jobs cleaning up oil spills.
We will not allow the Ezra Levants of this world, who, by the way, does not reside in this region, to characterize the Haisla, or our neighbors, as the pawns of U.S. Foundations.
In the past we have made considerable sacrifices all on our own in order to protect rivers, lands and ancestral food sources. In part this was done through the use of existing policies, procedures and legislation, including legal means. Sometimes we were forced to use money earmarked for other uses to do so. When I was Chief, our community supported me and our village council in fighting the massive pollution of the Kitimat river by Eurocan Pulp and Paper company. We were attacked by government for doing so, and threatened with third party management – for protecting a river and salmon habitat! Government then, as well as now, were negligent in meeting their legal responsibilities to First Nations, as well as their responsibility to all Canadians, to protect those natural places and processes which are vulnerable and irreplaceable.
The Haisla reality is a growing list of ancestral foods which we no longer have access to. Oolichans were once the most important food resource of the Haisla. They are now all but extinct in the five rivers in our territory that once produced them in great abundance such as a harvest of over 600 tons a year in the Kitamaat River alone. Abalone are also gone. Crabs, prawns and bottom fish in Douglas channel are either gone or illegal for human consumption due to toxic pollution. Salmon habitat in the Kitimat River, once one of the jewels of the coast, is all but gone. Any semblance of salmon abundance is now reliant on a federal hatchery paid for by taxpayers, not the industries that destroyed the productivity of the river in the first place.
We have seen the magnificent forests of the Kitimat Valley, and other coastal watersheds, obliterated in an orgy of greed and destruction driven by short term economic interests, instead of what we asked for; long-term sustainable and science driven resource planning.
We are willing to share, but we will no longer be robbed.
Real protection of forest jobs comes from realistic and long term forest planning, not blaming Enviros and First Nations for a decline in the forest industry that is the result of decades of over cutting and bad management by government and industry.
Now we face Enbridge and their proposal to bring dirty oil from the tarsands through our territory via a pipeline, and ship it through our waters via super tankers.
This is the largest and most insidious threat to our culture that has ever existed, with the possible exception of the Canadian governments violent imposition of the residential school system.
We have witnessed our Prime Minister and his Minister of Environment openly supporting this project, which makes a joke of the Joint Review Process. It is inconsistent with the federal governments fiduciary responsibility to First Nations. This government has abdicated any semblance of fairness or balance in executing its responsibilities to our people, and in fact to all Canadians. Why wouldn’t we accept help in this situation?
So, do not expect an apology any time soon for our willingness to accept assistance from U.S. Foundations, or anyone else of goodwill and principles. In fact, we will instead use this as an opportunity to thank them for stepping up to the plate and acting with charity, responsibility, integrity and generosity in this time of rapid and uncertain change in the world.
We can only hope our Prime Minister will consider their example and truly come to an epiphany as to what really constitutes nation building.
Gerald Amos was Chief Councilor for the Haisla First Nation for 12 years. He has been a leading voice for conservation in Canada for thirty years.
Source: Terrace Daily
Wildsight & What People Think December 2, 2011
Posted by ryland in : Wildsight , comments closedEast Kootenay environmental organization seeks public feedback
Wildsight, a local environmental organization, is asking for public feedback about their work and community involvement. “We’re a grassroots environmental organization that works with communities and it’s important to us to know what people think,” said Juri Peepre, Wildsight Regional’s board Chair. The organization would like to hear from the public about what they’re doing well, and what they could be doing better. To that end they’ve created a survey online so area residents can share their thoughts and ideas about the organization.
2012 will mark 25 years of the organization’s conservation work in the East Kootenay. However, as Wildsight works for the environment, it does so by working with people and communities. “The environment can’t speak for itself. But people can and we want to hear what they have to say, what they think about our home place and what we can do better to help look after it,” said Peepre.
Wildsight has a short survey online for the public to fill out, with questions about what people think about the organization and opportunities for suggestions about what they can do better. The survey is available online at www.WildsightSurvey.com
Wildsight works locally, regionally and globally to protect biodiversity and encourage sustainable communities in Canada’s Columbia and Southern Rocky Mountain region. For more information, please visit www.Wildsight.ca
Niedermayer backs anti-Jumbo November 16, 2011
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedOpponents of the long-proposed Jumbo Glacier Resort near Cranbrook went on the offensive in the B.C. legislature Tuesday, with retired hockey star Scott Niedermayer joining a local aboriginal group to press for its rejection.
Niedermayer joined Kathryn Teneese, chair of the Ktunaxa Nation council and NDP leader Adrian Dix to urge the B.C. government to reject the proposed resort, on Jumbo glacier in the Purcell Mountains.
The project has been studied for more than 20 years, and received a provincial environmental certificate in 2005. The last step is approval of a master development agreement, which Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson could make at any time.
Teneese showed a video with testimonials of aboriginal and other local residents, and released a study by Simon Fraser University economist Marvin Shaffer that questions the economic viability of adding another ski resort to the region.
The Ktunaxa call the region Qat’muk, and say it is a sacred place for them.
“It’s where the grizzly bear spirit was born, goes to heal itself, and returns to the spirit world,” Teneese told a news conference hosted by the NDP at the legislature Tuesday.
Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald and Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall oppose the resort, and say their communities support their position.
Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett, the only B.C. Liberal in the region, has been an outspoken advocate for Jumbo resort. Bennett notes that the Shuswap First Nation, which claims to be the closest aboriginal community to the Jumbo glacier, supports the resort proposal and asserts its own detailed territorial claim.
Bennett also notes there is an existing helicopter-skiing operation on the Jumbo glacier, a road to the region built 50 years ago, and the year-round resort is proposed for an abandoned sawmill site.
In a December 2010 letter to the B.C. government, Shuswap chief Paul Sam described the Jumbo Basin as a dead end with no traditional food gathering or travel function.
“Throughout the long review of the Jumbo basin, all First Nations agreed that it carried little significance to our respective to our respective traditional uses,” Sam wrote.
Niedermayer said that while he lives in California, he returns to the Cranbrook area with his family in the summer. Other local ski resorts in the area have undeveloped lots, so he questions the need for another one to be approved.
“There are some logging roads and things like that, but the bears are allowed to move the way they need to to have a healthy population,” Niedermayer said.
From BC Local News
Flathead Park a Century Later October 26, 2011
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedYou may have heard of “Canada’s Next National Park”. But did you know that the idea to create a National Park in the Flathead is a 100 year old idea?
A century ago this year the first Superintendent of Waterton National Park in Alberta, John George “Kootenai” Brown stated in his first report to the Government of Canada that “It seems to be advisable to greatly enlarge this park [into the BC Flathead]. Many people here desire it. It might be well to have a preserve and breeding ground in conjunction with the United States Glacier Park. I am sure this step would be much appreciated by all sportsmen and nature lovers.”
Over 20 years ago a coal mine proposal in the Cabin Creek area of the Flathead re-ignited the efforts to protect the Flathead. Local people in the Elk Valley banded together to fight this proposal and protect what they knew as one of the wildest areas around.
Being an international watershed, the mine proposal triggered the International Joint Commission review of the project. The commission recommended that “Mine proposals not receive regulatory approval.”
The BC government chose to ignore the concerns of local residents and the recommendations of the IJC and continued on with business as usual, issuing mining exploration permits across the valley for various minerals, oil and gas.
Largely due to economic reasons no mine proposals proceeded for quite some time. Then in 2004 as coal and other mineral resources increased in value, another coal mine is proposed in the headwaters of the Flathead, reigniting the efforts to permanently protect the Flathead yet again. The BC government continues to insists it can mine without impacting the river.
While it was apparent to nearly everyone that mining should never be allowed to proceed in the Flathead, mining companies led by the BC government continued to try to advance their schemes. New phosphate and gold exploration proceeded.
In 2008 an international coalition of environmental organizations started a petition to list the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and UNESCO World Heritage site as “In Danger” due to BC’s reckless mining plans. The petition is reviewed by UNESCO, who sends an international mission to the region.
The mission concludes, just as the IJC did 20 years earlier that if mining were to proceed in the BC Flathead it would impact the wilderness values of the region so much that it would endanger a World Heritage Site.
With the writing on the wall (again) and it’s international reputation on the line as it was about to host the Olympic games, then premier Gordon Campbell scrambled to save face and reverse the position of his government by signing an Memorandum of Understanding with Montana that would finally see a ban on mining and oil and gas development in the entire International Flathead Watershed!
The “Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act” was just recently introduced in the legislature. Once passed, this act will be the long awaited first step towards realizing the protection of the Flathead that was envisioned 100 years ago by Kootenai Brown.
But this act is just a first step towards achieving real conservation outcomes in the Flathead. Next up is establishing a Wildlife Management Area that would protect wildlife values and establish a connectivity corridor along the spine of BC’s Southern Rockies between the Waterton-Glacier and Rocky Mountain Park protected complexes and World Heritage SItes. And finally the completion of Waterton-Glacier by adding 1/3rd of the BC Flathead to the park as a Wilderness reserve, completing the vision of Kootenai Brown.
Flathead Far From Protected Despite Legislation October 8, 2011
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedLegislation to ban mining and energy development in B.C.’s Flathead River Valley is a welcome first step but the Flathead remains far from protected, conservation groups said today.
“This legislation does not protect the Flathead from logging in a proposed National Park, trophy hunting, new road access and quarrying,” said Casey Brennan, Southern Rockies Program Manager for Wildsight. “Preventing mining and oil and gas development is a great first step, but real conservation is permanent protection as a national park and wildlife management area.”
The B.C. government introduced legislation today—called the “Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act”—that it promised in February 2010 when it announced a ban on mining and energy development in the Flathead. The ban followed a petition to the World Heritage Committee from 11 conservation groups, including Wildsight, Sierra Club BC, and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.
“This long-promised legislation inks what was previously in pencil – the important ban on mining and energy development in the Flathead,” said Sierra Club spokesperson Sarah Cox. “No other conservation efforts appear to be included in this act.”
“We’re puzzled that the B.C. government states in its press release that the Flathead is a World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve,” said CPAWS BC spokesperson Chloe O’Loughlin. “If the Flathead receives the same high level of protection as the adjoining Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park it would certainly merit this designation, but right now B.C.’s Flathead is almost completely unprotected, while Waterton and Glacier are both national parks.”
Sierra Club BC, CPAWS and Wildsight are calling for B.C. to follow the lead of Alberta and Montana and agree to a national park in the southeastern one-third of the Flathead, to fill in the missing piece of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The groups are also calling for a Wildlife Management Area in the rest of the Flathead Valley and adjoining habitat, in keeping with recommendations made last year by a World Heritage Committee mission to the Flathead.
Wildsight Opens Fernie Office May 24, 2011
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedWildsight Elk Valley has opened an office in Fernie. Sharon Switzer, Wildsight Elk Valley president, says having a central location will help the team focus on a growing roster of programs and projects.
The office will be a central hub for the Elk River Alliance, Advocates for Local Living, Community Eco-Garden, Bear Aware, Flathead Wild, Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane and Climate Solutions.
“With so much going on, the time is right to put it all together under one roof,” Sharon said. She invites everyone to drop by the office, at 891 2nd Avenue.
“Come in for a freshly brewed organic coffee, cool Springside water or some hot and fresh organic popcorn, by donation” she said. “You’re always welcome to sit down in our Wild Lounge and read the latest Wild Times while taking in the amazing Flathead RAVE Photo Exhibit.”
The office space has been made possible by a generous donation from Fern Marriott. “We’re very grateful to Fern for supporting our efforts in this way,” Sharon said.
“This space will help bring the community together in dynamic ways to rally for responsible environmental stewardship,” she added. “We look forward to seeing you walk through the doors!”
Wildsight Elk Valley office is open from 10 am to 4 pm, Monday to Friday starting June 1st. There will be a Grand Opening on Friday June 3rd from 5PM onwards. Everyone is welcome to come by. Refreshments and snacks will be served.
Flathead Wild: the real story February 1, 2011
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedFlathead Wild is a coalition of six environmental groups with a conservation vision for BC’s Flathead River Valley and southern Rockies.
The vision includes the completion of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park through the protection of one third of BC’s Flathead River Valley. As a National Park Reserve, designated as wilderness, this remote area would become a wildlife sanctuary with development limited to trails and campsites.
Parks Canada’s National Park completion strategy includes the extension of Waterton into BC’s Flathead Valley.
This wildlife sanctuary would be connected to Canada’s Rocky Mountain parks (Banff, Kootenay, Yoho, Jasper) by a new provincial Southern Rockies Wildlife Management Area (SRWMA). The SRWMA would include two thirds of BC’s Flathead, the entire Wigwam, the west side and headwaters of the Elk and the east side of the Bull River Valleys.
The SRWMA would prioritize wildlife protection and wilderness stewardship while managing continued multiple recreational and commercial uses.
The current land use plan for the southern Rockies, outside of the Flathead, prioritizes mineral and energy development over all other values.
Wildsight supports Tembec in its continued Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified operations in the region—including the two thirds of the Flathead in the SRWMA.
An independent expert panel report commissioned by the B.C. government concludes: “Grizzly bears are likely to persist in greatest numbers in such places as national parks or wilderness areas where the maintenance of naturally functioning ecosystems is given a high priority for management.”
The panel recommended “…the establishment of a Grizzly Bear Management Area within each bioclimatic region of the province. This should include provisions for maintaining connectivity between grizzly bear populations to facilitate movements.” _(Peek et al, 2003 Management of Grizzly Bears in B.C)
Right now there are no wildlife sanctuaries in BC’s southern Rockies.
Flathead Wild’s vision is supported by the majority of local residents, the best available science and more than 10,000 Friends of the Flathead from throughout the East Kootenay, BC, Canada and around the world.
As for public opinion, two statistically valid (within 3.9%) random digit dial surveys in 2008 and 2009 in the East Kootenay showed that a majority of East Kootenay (67%) and Elk Valley residents (60%) support a national park in the southeastern third of BC’s Flathead.
For more facts and to join the effort to protect and connect BC’s Flathead River Valley. Sign up as a Friend of the Flathead at www.flathead.ca
The Big Wild January 1, 2011
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedThanks to Theo and Darren for all the support from The Big Wild for Flathead Wild.
Founded by MEC and CPAWS, The Big Wild is a conservation movement that makes it easy for you to stand up for wilderness protection campaigns. Join us in calling on decision makers to protect at least half of Canada’s precious public land and water forever. Do something small to save something big.
First Nations group opposes ski resort November 16, 2010
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedThe area of the proposed ski resort is sacred to the Ktunaxa Nation.
A proposed ski resort west of Invermere. B.C. has upset a local First Nations group. Members of the Ktunaxa Nation say the area is sacred ground and should not be developed.
About 50 members of the Ktunaxa Nation are preparing to address the B.C. Provincial Government on Monday to make a declaration in the Legislature.
“The declaration which will be made public on Monday, I can’t give you too many details at this point, does pertain to the Toby Creek Jumbo Watershed. We’re looking for people to understand that Qat’muk, which is the name of the place, is a sacred area to the Ktunaxa people, with deep spiritual connection, and it is the home of the grizzly bear spirit,” said special projects coordinator Roy Sebastian
It’s also the site of a proposed $450-million ski resort that proponents want to build about 55 kilometres west of Invermere.
The Ktunaxa Nation Council says the stewardship the Nation has in connection to the land in its traditional territory is the foundation for the declaration.
“I think it’s the importance of Qat’muk, the Jumbo area, how important it is to our people, and the animals that live there, the grizzly bear, he holds everything for us,” said delegation member Herman Alpine.
The delegation to the Legislature claims that this declaration will have political significance.
“It’s an exercise in sovereignty for the Ktunaxa Nation. The government will be receiving and welcoming the Ktunaxa in the Legislature, and that in itself is why the journey is historical and significant,” added Sebastian.
The arrival of the delegation on Monday will mark the first time the Ktunaxa Nation flag has ever been brought into the B.C. Legislature.