Entering a New Millennium of Wilderness Conservation
Northern lights illuminate autumn night sky at a lookout point in the alpine of the Elaho valley in the proposed Stoltmann Wilderness National Park Reserve, November 1999, on the eve of the third millenium. Photo credit: Jeremy Williams
Canada is well positioned to effect positive change of planetary significance! Whether we do so depends on individual Canadian's depth of concern and commitment to the environment and wilderness conservation.
Canada encompasses more of Earth's surface per capita than any other nation. We are also blessed with more wilderness, more old oldgrowth forests and more wildlife than almost any other nation. But this precious natural heritage is in jeopardy. And its fate mirrors our own.
At the beginning of the last millennium more than 95 percent of the Earth was virtually unaffected by human hands-pristine wilderness by today's standard. The human population of the entire world was about 300 million--fewer people than live in the USA today.
Now, scientist calculate that only one-quarter of Earth's lands qualify as wilderness and most of this is found in remote areas of harsh climate and difficult access-deserts, mountains, the arctic and Antarctic. Canada is a rare exception--one of the few countries with large tracts of fairly accessible, biodiversity-rich, ancient-forested wilderness.
Two-year-old Roan plays beside a 1,300 year-old Douglas fir in the millenial grove in the Stoltmann Wilderness. Will this tree and its ancient temperate rainforest home still be here when she grows up? Photo credit: Mark Van Manen/Vancouver Sun. Used with permission
But Canada's native forests are rapidly being fragmented by roads and clearcut logging. Our oldgrowth temperate rainforests are now classified as one of the world's most endangered forest types. The number of wild plants and animals on Canada's "species at risk" list increases each year.
Given the wilderness wealth we still possess and the fact that concerned citizens can determine public policy through our democratic system, Canadians are lucky. We have the chance to turn around a millennium of planetary destruction and set a new course, in fact, if any one group of people can afford to take nation-wide action, we can--and must!
The Wilderness Committee has become Canada's largest citizen-funded membership-based wilderness conservation organization because we passionately believe that the survival of humankind lies in the protection of the remaining still-wild nooks and crannies of planet Earth. It is our opinion that in the blink of an eye (in evolutionary terms) humans have ploughed, bulldozed, dammed, paved and clearcut far too much of Earth's living skin. Now, in even less time, we must protect every wild scrap of what is left of Earth's life-support system. Too many living "rivets" have already popped off our tiny space capsule!
Founded in the wildest Canadian Province-British Columbia, over the past two decades we have been at the forefront of many of the hardest-fought wilderness preservation battles this country has ever seen. We still are. Although we have won some significant battles, we have not yet won the war.
We have strong views, a clear vision, positive solutions and a growing membership of 27,000 across the nation.
We say it is wrong to cut down ancient forests with thousand-year-old trees. Our vision for B.C's protected area network embraces 40 percent of B.C.'s land area-the same as Alaska's park system.
We say that no wild river should ever again be dammed. We demand that the hunting of grizzly bears and the destruction of their habitat through building new roads and logging virgin valleys cease. We believe that every remaining run of wild salmon is precious and that non-selective fishing and the destruction of critical fish habitat by logging must stop. We say that logging in Ontario and Manitoba's provincial parks is a national disgrace and must be stopped. We advocate cooling climate change by freezing fossil fuel consumption and turning to solar and other alternative energy solution. In short, we must do everything we can do to stop wrecking the Earth!
What about you? What is your vision for the next ten years--the next thousand years? Read on to find our about the world of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and find out how you can get actively and passionately involved in our campaign!
