Beaker, a tiny burrowing owl, was part of the hoot over a national park proposed for B.C.'s South Okanagan and Similkameen Valley during a news conference Wednesday in Victoria.

His handler joined members of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and other lobby group leaders at the legislature to answer questions about the park, which has received the support of 19,000 people, via signatures, from across Canada, including more than a thousand from the Greater Victoria area.

Groups have been circulating petitions to rally support to the park since May, 2006. About a quarter of the signatures were registered online. Around 6,000 of the signatures have come from the Okanagan region, where endangered owls like Beaker, and one-third of the province's other endangered species, make their homes.

Photocopies of the petitions were presented at the office of Bill Barisoff, MLA of Penticton-Okanagan Valley. The B.C. and federal governments are currently undertaking a joint feasibility study through Parks Canada to assess the park proposal. Their decision on whether the park will go ahead is expected late this year or by early 2009.

editor(at)vicnews.com