CPAWS-BC Publications

NEWS UPDATE: August 23, 2010 – B.C.’s Auditor General says B.C. lacks the plans necessary to protect nature in B.C.’s parks and protected areas. In the report, the Auditor General finds that despite a sound vision of parks protection, the government falls short in actual plans for protecting parks. Download the report.

CPAWS REACTION: We’re heartened by the Auditor General’s findings. B.C. Parks suffer from chronic underfunding. It’s time for B.C. to properly care for these precious ecosystems and beautiful parks. We hope the B.C. government takes the recommendations of the Auditor General to heart and moves quickly to plan, implement and appropriately fund our parks system, on the eve of B.C. Parks 100th anniversary. It’s not a priority to nurture protected areas. It’s a necessity. Keeping wild places intact is the simple solution to our current and future environmental problems in British Columbia.

–Chloe O’Loughlin, CPAWS-BC Executive Director

See the Vancouver Sun story: http://www.vancouversun.com/Environment+ministry+failing+preserve+parks+auditor+general+finds/3433336/story.html
Photos: Mike Beedell

Click on the picture to download a PDF of our Summer 2010 newsletter, and see what CPAWS has been working on this summer!

The waters of the Southern Strait of Georgia are home to B.C.'s most iconic and beautiful creatures.  Check them out in our poster, "Home of the Orca".  Display it proudly, and tell others about the importance of protecting our waterways. 

Things in the proposed South-Okanagan Similkameen National Park Reserve are really heating up, and we don't mean the weather!  Support for the park remains strong.  In a recent poll, 63% of residents surveyed support the creation of a national park in this unique grasslands habitat, and 95% support protecting this sensitive ecosystem.  If you want to find out more, check out the SOS National Park page, or download our brochure here.  You can even view our "I support the national park" badger decal. 

Wild at Heart - Spring 2009 Newsletter

Download the newsletter  (1.7 MB PDF file)

Table of contents:

No Dam Way! CPAWS needs help in high-stakes battle with U.S., by Chloe O'Loughlin

Winds of Change: Atlin-Taku planning drifts towards climate change, by Chloe O'Loughlin

Woman and Warrior: CPAWS founder turns 97 - Executive Director's Message, by Chloe O'Loughlin

Kaska Territory: The place where animals go to get fat, by Chloe O'Loughlin

Marine Mysteries of British Columbia: Could solving these mysteries save the oceans? by Carrie West

Oceans Book Club: Where sea meets story and readers make waves, by Carrie West

Protecting the Peel: Yukon Watershed needs your help! by Theresa Gulliver

Coral and Sponge Workshop Report

The second Coral and Sponge Conservation Strategy stakeholder workshop was held on November 19, 2008 in Vancouver, British Columbia. This document summarizes the workshop proceedings by providing an overview of the discussions that took place and a summary of conclusions and recommendations.

Download the report cover letter

Download the report

This poster of the Taku watershed appeared in our Fall 2009 newsletter and portrays some of the splendour found in the Atlin-Taku region of northern British Columbia.

To view the full-sized poster, click here.

In 2009, CPAWS and WWF provided input to the provincial government on the development of a coastal and ocean strategy.

Read our input here: 'Towards a Provincial Ocean and Coastal Strategy', and see an overview of B.C's 'Ocean & Coastal Strategy'.

Your help is needed urgently. Please add your voice against the proposed Shanker’s Bend Dam in Washington State. Unless we stop it, this U.S.dam will flood one of the most imperiled ecosystems in Canada – B.C.’s Similkameen Valley.

• The B.C. government, Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen, and Okanagan Nation Alliance publicly oppose this dam.
• The federal government has done nothing to stop it.

Map of the proposed dam flooding area

Click here to enlarge the image

Download the PDF

Please take a minute to write or e-mail Jim Prentice, Canada’s Environment Minister. Ask him to tell U.S. authorities that Canada will never allow this dam to proceed.

E-mail: Jim.Prentice@ec.gc.ca

The Honourable Jim Prentice
Minister of the Environment
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
10 Wellington Street, 28th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0H3

The proposed high dam in Washington State could:

• flood a major part of one of the rarest ecosystems in Canada;
• flood the habitat of at least 16 species at risk;
• flood the site of the proposed National Park;
• have a major impact on First Nations’ interests, including loss of land and cultural sites in B.C. and Washington State; and
• take the agricultural heart out of the Similkameen Valley in B.C.

Current biodiversity science indicates this portion of British Columbia is both a rarity and a richness hotspot. Over one-third of all British Columbian endangered species are dependant on this landscape and the region is one of the top three endangered ecosystems in Canada.

The Similkameen Valley ecosystem is home to species at risk that are protected by the Canadian Species at Risk Act. These species include the following:

Birds:

• Yellow-breasted chat
• Western screech owl (macfarlanei)
• Lewis's woodpecker
• Long-billed curlew

Mammals:

• American badger (jeffersoni)
• Nuttal's cottontail

Amphibians:

• Tiger salamander
• Great Basin spadefoot toad

Fish:

• Umatilla dace
• Columbia mottled sculpin

Insect:

• Mormon metalmark (butterfly)

Snakes:

• Rubber boa
• Nightsnake
• Great Basin Gophersnake
• Western rattlesnake
• Western Yellowbellied Racer

From the preliminary permit application by Public Utility District No. 1 of Okanogan County:

Click here to enlarge the image
View the map as PDF
Go to the permit application online at Okanogan County PUD (off the CPAWS-BC site)

Links:

Vancouver Sun: Province opposes U.S. plan to flood Similkameen Valley

Vancouver Sun: Dam would flood delicate ecosystem

Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune: PUD comes to Oroville to discuss Enloe dam and potential high dam

Okanogan Public Utility District web site (Applicant)

Application of Okanogan Public Utility District for Preliminary Permit (pdf)

White Paper by Washington Department of Ecology (pdf)

Mountain Equipment Co-op is has made a generous grant supporting work to preserve the South Okanagan-Similkameen ecosystems from being flooded by the Shanker's Bend Dam project. CPAWS-BC would like to thank Mountain Equipment Co-op for their support for this project.

Richard Hebda (Adjunct Professor – University of Victoria) states that the Southern Canadian Rocky Mountains are a climate change adaptation “hot spot” for flora. Dr. Hebda’s analysis found the region contains incredible diversity of plants (1340 species or 39 percent of B.C.’s total). It’s a climate change stronghold, with high habitat diversity in at least seven major ecological zones bolstered by connections to nearby parks and conservation areas.  The flora of the region should be resilient to climate change.

Download the Report