HUNDREDS SPEAK OUT FOR THE RAINSHADOW WILDERNESS AT PACKED PLANETARIUM MEETING

Conservationists Call For BC Government to Act Now to Save The Southern Chilcotins Mountains And Rainshadow Wilderness Areas.

WCWC TO SEND BUS LOADS OF CONSERVATIONISTS TO LILLOOET PUBLIC MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY

An overflow crowd of four hundred packed into the Vancouver Planetarium last night to listen to speakers from some of BC's leading conservation groups call for the BC government to immediately grant park protection to the Rainshadow Wilderness areas near Lillooet. One of the Rainshadow Wilderness areas, the South Chilcotins Mountains, has been a park candidate since 1937 - making it the longest standing park proposal in the province.

People lined up to sign up for a Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) bus trip to a government-sponsored open-house public meeting in Lillooet, being held to solicit the public's views on park protection for the Rainshadow Wilderness areas this coming Saturday, February 17. The WCWC has rented several large buses, which will depart from Gastown's Steam Clock at 7am Saturday morning. The BC government has refused to hold open-house public meetings in the Vancouver area, choosing to only hold them in the pro-logging town of Lillooet.

"Support in Vancouver for park protection for the Rainshadow Wilderness Areas is extremely high - I can't remember seeing a crowd this big to any other similar event in the Planetarium, this has to be a record!," explained WCWC spokesperson Joe Foy. "That's why we have rented the buses, so people have an opportunity to have their voice heard at the government's meetings in Lillooet - even if it means driving five hours just to get there," he explained.

Tom Perry, a former NDP MLA and Cabinet Minister in the Harcourt government, stood at the Planetarium podium to make an impassioned plea for the current government to act now to protect what is left of the Rainshadow Wilderness areas - which he said "are on Vancouver's doorstep". To hammer home his point, Perry presented a 12 minute video to the crowd showing Rainshadow Wilderness areas recently lost to clearcut logging as well as areas, such as the Southern Chilcotins Mountains which are still pristine, but threatened will impending logging.

Perry explained that while a government land-use planning process has dragged on for the past five years it is now deadlocked. Many important park proposal areas have already been roaded and logged during the process and more will be lost if the impasse continues.

"It's obvious that the BC government must make a decision now to preserve the surviving wild valleys - while there is something left to preserve. That's why we are putting out an urgent call for people to sign up for our bus trip to Lillooet - so that people will make their wishes for conservation heard loud enough to break the deadlock and push the BC government into finally granting park protection for the Rainshadow Wilderness Areas," said Foy.

Members of the media are invited on the bus trip. Free copies of Tom Perry's video are also available.

For more information:

Contact Joe Foy, Campaign Coordinator or Paul George, Founder at (604) 683-8220

Or visit our web site