Bown Island, Canada's Newest National Park?

This idea has finally taken its first step to becoming a reality with the Bowen Island council unanimously voting to endorse the idea in principal of merging existing provincial and regional parks with private land to create the new national park. Should a new park be created it would bring the total number of National Parks and National Park Reserves in Canada to 43.

The idea was brought forward in an assessment by Parks Canada to see if it would be feasible to place a new park on Bowen Island. Mayor Bob Turner says that it is important for Parks Canada to see the island as being in support of the project and the unanimous vote shows the start of the backing the community will have.

The item that was voted on is just the beginning of the process and did not include any recommendations as to how to go ahead with the project. It gives the upper management at Parks Canada information on whether or not to go ahead with the development of a park on the island. The assessment looks at provincial crown land, regionally owned land, and private land which would all be included in the park.

The model for considering this new development was based on the southern Gulf Islands and if the project is to go ahead land will have to be purchased to make it work. Turner says that it is now up to Parks Canada to decide what they want to do with the information they have and the final decision will come down from them.

Firearms Allowed in Parks

John Muir may very well be spinning in his grave after new law allowing people to carry concealed firearms into national parks, including to the Muir Woods National Monument, came into effect on February 22nd. The beginning for this law to come into effect was under the Bush administrations which overturned a law put in place 25 years before during Ronald Regan's time in office. It was overturned by the Supreme Court which said that Americans have a constitutional right to possess a firearm.

The new law allows visitors to carry a concealed weapon, as long as they follow the laws of the state that the park is located in. Visitors are being strongly encouraged to do their research ahead of time so that they encounter no problems upon arriving in the parks.

There is some criticism of the new laws though. John Waterman, the President of the U.S. Park Rangers Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police has spoken out against the law on the basis that allowing untrained and unlicensed people to carry firearms into the parks is an "invitation to disaster." He also says that the change in the law will affect the family friendly image that parks portray.

The NRA has welcomed the change and says that it will help to enhance the self-defense rights of "Law abiding Americans"

The old laws were put into place by the Regan Administration to counter poachers in parks and all evidence shows that they worked. Visitors will now be able to carry a gun into all but 20 of the 392 park services locations, including Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Only time will tell if these new laws are going to work out as supporters are hoping for, but it will be an interesting news topic to monitor.

National Parks Conservation Association

Today's post will focus on the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) which operates in the United States. The NPCA's mission is "To protect and enhance America's National Parks for present and future generations." The belief of the NPCA is that National Parks are a huge part of the history of the US and that they represent everything about America. The NPCA has been around for over 85 years and now has over 325000 members through their Washington DC home base and 23 offices around the country. It is the only private, non profit organizations dedicated to protecting America's park system.

The NPCA is involved politically by fighting for stronger laws to protect parks as well as fighting against attempts that would weaken laws protecting parks. The major undertaking of the NPCA right now is to restore the wildlife, air quality and historical sites by the centenial anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016.

The NPCA regional offices form partnerships and work together with local governments and activist groups and organizations on the front lines to help preserve the parks in the areas they are located. These bonds are part of what make the organization an effective tool in preserving the parks for the future generations of tourists to enjoy

BC Protects Glacier National Park

With the Flathead Valley being one of the topics that we are going to be discussing after reading break, I thought that I would start my first blog post with a story about it.






Feb. 9th marked a day that many hoping for the protection of the Flathead had been waiting for. British Columbia's Lt. Gov. Steven Point announced that a new plan would be worked on with the state of Montana in which "mining, oil and gas development and coalbed gas extraction will not be permitted in British Columbia's Flathead Valley". This new plan effectively kills any future plans for mineral and energy exploration in the area.

This plan also halts any future development of the "Crowsnest" gold deposit. This was started in 2009 when MAX Resource Corp. found gold in the valley. President Stuart Rogers says that he is disappointed in the announcement after the great results they had seen in the past year, he also stated that they will be seeking compensation.

This news has been welcomed with open arms by environmental groups, but are waiting to see the full details of the plan. They are happy though that this plan signals a shift away from the original plan which had a huge focus on mining. Their hope for the future of the Flathead Valley is to see it become a National Park