For Immediate Release – August 24, 2008

Fourth Annual Day of Action to protest under-funding and understaffing of BC Parks

Vancouver, British Columbia - Today six environmental groups launched a series of information pickets to protest under-funding and understaffing of British Columbias provincial parks. The pickets occurred at ten parks around the Lower Mainland, on Vancouver Island and in the Interior of BC.

Participating groups include the Burke Mountain Naturalists, Fraser Headwaters Alliance, Friends of Strathcona Park, Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society, Wildsight, Wilderness Committee, and the BC Government Service Employees Union (BCGEU), the union representing park rangers.

“The provincial government has put our park system on a starvation diet. In 2001 the park budget was slashed by almost 30 percent and that money hasnt been reinstated. As a result, park rangers have become an endangered species, our park budget is below Albertas and park staffing is barely half of what it was 10 years ago,” said Gwen Barlee, policy director for the Wilderness Committee.

The management of BCs parks has dogged the provincial government. A series of unpopular measures, including initiatives to allow resort development within park boundaries, installing parking meters, weakening the Parks Act, changing park boundaries to allow for industrial development together with dramatic budget and staff cuts have resulted in sustained public criticism.

Elaine Golds of the Burke Mountain Naturalists had this to say about Pinecone Burke Provincial Park: “The park was created with easy access to trails but we are still waiting for basic amenities such as outhouses at the two trailheads. There is virtually no trail maintenance other than by volunteers. One of the most popular trails had a stream crossing destroyed by winter storms which has made the crossing unsafe especially for families with young children. The appalling lack of funding is preventing people from enjoying this wonderful park.”

The day of action wont be limited to protests and pickets: in Mount Robson Provincial Park, Fraser Headwaters Alliance director Keith Berg will bring along his alp-horn – a twelve foot long wooden horn. The horn is to draw attention to the fact that the Park has just two full-time and four seasonal staff to manage 300,000 hectares, not including the additional responsibility parks staff have for eight neighbouring parks. In contrast, Albertas Kananaskis Country 260,000 hectare park system employs 75 full-time and 19 seasonal staff.

In the Kootenays, provincial parks are also struggling from lack of funding. “The level of stewardship in Akamina-Kishenina Provincial Park is shocking,” commented Casey Brennan of Wildsight. “This is a spectacular wilderness jewel adjacent to a UN World Heritage Site, a Biosphere Reserve and the worlds first peace park, and there isnt even one full time ranger here.”

Much of the governments rationale for cutbacks in parks is premised on the erroneous notion that parks dont pay for themselves. However, a 2001 government report shows that for every $1 the government spends on protected areas in BC, over $10 are returned to local economies through visitor expenditures.

“Parks arent a business,” said BCGEU president Darryl Walker, “and they dont show an annual profit, but putting public funds into park programs and staff is a wise investment that benefits communities near parks, and benefits the environment.”

For more information please contact:

Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee, (Vancouver) 604-202-0322 @ Cultus Lake Provincial Park (Chilliwack)
Charlotte Barrow, Wilderness Committee (Victoria), 250-858-7464 @ Goldstream Provincial Park (Outside Victoria)
Annette Tanner, Wilderness Committee (mid Vancouver Island), 250-240-7470 @ Cathedral Grove Provincial Park and Rathtrevor Provincial Park
Elaine Golds, Burke Mountain Naturalists, 604-937-3483 @ Pinecone Burke Provincial Park (Information picket starts at 9:00am). Victoria Otton, (604-937-5379) @ Golden Ears Provincial Park.
Diana Fright, Friends of Strathcona Park (mid Vancouver Island), 250-339-7714 @ Strathcona Provincial Park (Paradise Meadows)
Keith Berg, Fraser Headwaters Alliance, (central Rocky Mountain region) 250-968-4463 @ Mount Robson Provincial Park main parking lot
Sheila White, Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society (Okanagan), 604-494-8996 @ Sun-Oka Provincial Park
Casey Brennan, Wildsight (Kootenay region) 250- 423-0402 @ Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park
Stephen Howard, BC Government Service Employees Union, 604-291-9611

The information pickets will start at 11:00 AM on Sunday August 24, 2008.

-30-