British Columbia Creates 23 New Parks
10/28/96
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British Columbia creates 23 new parks near Vancouver
Copyright 1996 by Reuters
10/28/96
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuter) - The Canadian province of British Columbia
Monday created 23 new parks around Vancouver, protecting bald eagle and grizzly
bear habitat, old forests, pristine rivers and mountains.
The decision divided environmentalists because only part of a hotly contested
old-growth forest, the Stoltmann Wilderness, will be protected and the rest open
to logging.
Provincial Premier Glen Clark told a news conference that the new parks will
preserve an additional 336,000 acres in the most densly populated area of the
fast-growing West Coast province.
These include the Brackendale Eagle Reserve north of Vancouver, one of the
world's biggest wintering sites for the birds; the Bishop River wilderness which
is home to a large grizzly bear population and the untouched Elaho/Clendenning
forests. Habitat for the spotted owl and other threatened birds will also be
protected.
The decision, which followed a year and a half of negotiations among interested
groups, was welcomed by forest companies, mining groups, labor unions and some
conservation groups.
But Monday's news conference was disrupted several times by protests from some
environmentalists who said the plan did do enough to protect old-growth forests,
especially the Stoltmann area.
British Columbia since 1992 has embarked on the biggest park expansion in
Canadian history, creating 225 new protected areas. The total area set aside is
now about equal to the size of Scotland, the province said.