Wildsight bringing David Suzuki to East Kootenay May 17, 2012
Posted by ryland in : Wildsight , add a commentWildsight is delighted to bring Dr. David Suzuki to Invermere on the first day of June, 2012.
Very few people speak with his potency, insight and clarity. Fewer still have an extensive background in science, broadcasting and activism.
Suzuki, known to the world as Canada’s voice for the environment, recently stepped down as head of the David Suzuki Foundation.
“I want to speak freely without fear that my words will be deemed too political, and harm the organization of which I am so proud,” Suzuki said.
About David Suzuki’s presentation
Noting that humanity has undergone massive shifts, Suzuki says the global economy has transformed our species into a geological force.
“We are altering the biological, chemical and physical properties of the planet,” he says. In this, the Age of Man, “We are undermining the very life support systems of the planet: Air, water, soil, photosynthesis and biodiversity.”
Suzuki will outline the crux of the problem we face as a newly urbanized species, and how big-city living has changed our worldview and our priorities.
“For most of human existence, we understood we were a part of and utterly dependent on nature, but in a hundred years, we have been transformed from an agricultural species to a big city dweller,” he says.
“In a big city, it’s easy to think as long as we have a few parks to camp and play in, we don’t need nature.
Above: Emily Brydon training at Farnham Glacier/Jumbo
“In a city, our highest priority becomes our jobs, because we need jobs to make money to buy the things we think we need. So the economy becomes our highest priority and we forget that the very word economy comes from the same Greek word, oikos, as ecology.”
Suzuki will explore how the defects in our economic paradigm ensure the destruction of the biosphere. He will also offer information as to how we can address these defects.
David Suzuki Biography
Dr. David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. He is Companion to the Order of Canada and a recipient of UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for science, the United Nations Environment Program medal, the 2009 Right Livelihood Award, and Global 500. Dr. Suzuki is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and holds 27 honorary degrees from universities around the world. He is familiar to television audiences as host of the multi-award winning long-running CBC science and natural history television series The Nature of Things, and to radio audiences as the original host of CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks, as well as the acclaimed series It’s a Matter of Survival and From Naked Ape to Superspecies. In 1990 he co-founded The David Suzuki Foundation to work with “government, business and individuals to conserve our environment by providing science-based education, advocacy and policy work for social change that today’s situation demands”. His written work includes more than 54 books, 19 of them for children. Dr. Suzuki lives with his wife, Dr. Tara Cullis, and family in Vancouver, B.C.
Wildsight and Scott Niedermayer pledge to keep Jumbo Wild March 22, 2012
Posted by admin in : Wildsight , comments closedIt was a ‘Jumbo mistake’ for the provincial government to approve the Jumbo Glacier Resort’s Master Development Agreement this week, say Wildsight and Scott Niedermayer, NHL legend who grew up in Cranbrook.
“I am disappointed with the B.C. government’s decision on the Jumbo Glacier resort,” said Niedermayer. “I will continue my efforts to protect the unique, wild areas of the Kootenays for future generations to enjoy. The majestic wildlife, like the grizzly bear, need these large wilderness areas to support healthy populations.”
John Bergenske, Wildsight’s executive director, said opposition to the project remains strong.
“It’s extremely unfortunate that the provincial government has ignored the overwhelming opposition to this project from the people of the Kootenays, the Ktunaxa Nation’s spiritual values, and ignored the clear scientific consensus against the development by North America’s leading grizzly bear experts.
“It’s a bad decision. But it’s not the end,” Bergenske said.
It’s thought that Glacier Resorts Ltd. will need nearly $1 billion in capital investment to build the ski resort. With ski hills across the Kootenays running below capacity and a declining trend in the ski industry and real estate market, Bergenske questions who will invest in the resort.
“This is not economic diversification,” Bergenske said. “The Kootenays have lots of ski resorts, heli- and cat-ski operations. Jumbo is a land grab, pure and simple.”
But before the project can move forward, the land must be rezoned, and the Province hasn’t indicated how. Glacier Resorts has requested that the Province declare the area a resort municipality, creating a town with zero population and an appointed council, the first in B.C.
“It’s never been done before,” Bergenske said.
Niedermayer said it’s not time to let the issue drop.
“I believe we must do all we can to keep these places wild, as they are coming under increasing pressure of development and disappearing around the world,” he said.
Bingay, Swift, Stormcat Oh My! March 6, 2012
Posted by ryland in : Wildsight , comments closedBy Casey Brennan
A couple of weeks ago Ryland Nelson and I visited the upper Elk Valley. We wanted to see for ourselves an area that could become the most intensively industrialized section of Canada’s Southern Rockies. The low hanging pockets of cloud were not exactly what we had hoped for as we loaded up but we had to press on with a reconnaissance mission to an area facing three new massive industrial resource extraction projects. These three projects would be just north and west of the already sprawling open pits of Teck Coal’s Fording River and Greenhills operations.
The road on the east side of the Elk River was gated about 25kms north of Elkford so we unloaded Ryland’s snowmobile and started to tandem ride along the powerline and up the ‘zipper’ to an area locals refer to as ‘Stormcat Flats’. We rode on above Stormcat Energy’s pilot coalbed methane site to gain the ridge above the Elk River and see if we could get a view of Centremount Coal’s Bingay Creek mine proposal site as well as the area proposed for Teck Coal’s Fording River mine expansion dubbed ‘Swift’. What we found on the ridge was a well-traveled wildlife trail an old rime covered shack filled with snow and a pretty clear understanding of the grim reality this section of the valley could be facing in the very near future.
The clouds were too thick to be able to see much of the Fording River Valley but we could hear the mine loud and clear. We were able to get a good look at the Bingay Creek mine site. Some shipping containers left behind showed us just how close to the Elk River this mine would be. This mine would be at a very narrow point in the valley bottom and would cause impacts on water and wildlife that could not possibly be mitigated or managed.
We found only one active well at the coalbed methane site. They are ‘treating’ their wastewater by aerating it in an open pond. The ‘treated’ water continues to be dumped into Brit Creek, a tributary of the Elk River, as has been the case for over a decade now. Rust coloured iron oxide filings can be seen in the outflow channel and the treatment pond is a sickly mustard orange colour.
The reason we wanted to have a look at the Stormcat operation firsthand was due to the lack of response to repeated phone calls and emails to the company. We weren’t sure they were even operating the project. Their website is down and their parent company in the US filed for bankruptcy a few years ago.
We headed back to Fernie wondering how and when we are going to stop treating these massive industrial projects as individual, isolated proposals. We need to understand the cumulative impacts from all of the existing and potential human activity in BC’s Southern Rockies.
A century of mining and other intensive human uses of the Elk Valley have had a significant impact on water quality in the river and on wildlife habitat. We are already past thresholds for negative population effects from selenium in the Elk River. We must act now to protect critical habitat and ensure that the amazing variety of life that we share this beautiful place with will not just survive but thrive.
The proposed Southern Rockies Wildlife Management Area is a critical piece needed to strike a balance in the region and put a priority on wildlife. If you have not done so already please sign on as a Friend of the Flathead and use our action centre to let your favourite decision makers know that you support the vision for protecting and connecting BC’s Flathead and Southern Rockies.
Fernie Nature Tours: A Local Social Enterprise February 6, 2012
Posted by ryland in : Wildsight , comments closedThis 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.