Enjoy the breathtaking photography, cinematography and amazing stories of Ian McAllister, executive director of Pacific Wild, a Great Bear Rainforest and Salish Sea conservation organization.

Ian McAllister is the author of a multitude of books, has been honored by the Globe and Mail as one of 133 highly accomplished Canadians, He and his wife, Karen McAllister, were named by TIME as “Leaders of the 21st Century” for their efforts to protect British Columbia’s endangered rainforest. A member of the International League of Conservation Photographers, Ian has won the North American Nature Photography Association’s Vision Award and the Rainforest Action Network’s Rainforest Hero Award. He lives with his family on Denny Island in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest.

 

Creative Solutions for a New World

Managing Ecosystem Values

Let’s Shift This!

One of the main ways we can help create the change we want to see, is to send letters and call our elected officials. The more people who do this, the better.

To simplify this process, we have drafted this letter which we invite you to cut, paste and share by email and on social media.

As well, as an added convenience, we have supplied the email addresses and phone numbers for the key people who need to know that there is public support for a new ecosystem management.

Please send this letter to everyone noted on this list, plus find your MLA with the link provided and add them too. Please cc info@creativelyunited.org. We will follow up with these elected officials to remind them there is public support. Having your voice, and that of your family, friends, co-workers and networks, is what we need to shift this. It will only take a minute or two of your time!

Anything is possible, let’s make this happen!

 

The Letter:

Subject: Managing Ecosystem Values in British Columbia

We, the undersigned, support three key shifts for managing ecosystem-based values in British Columbia:

1. Include a measurement of nature’s ecosystem functions in managing the Province’s lands and resources.
2. Fully integrate land, water and marine systems in resource planning.
3. Invest more resources to ensure an independent assessment of compliance with stated environmental objectives.

Rationale

Ian McAllister’s magnificent photos and videos of the Great Bear Rainforest are testimony to British Columbia’s rich diversity of fish, wildlife and ecosystems. Their value is immense when measured in commercial, recreation, cultural and spiritual terms and is critical for sustaining Indigenous peoples.

However, these resources are facing increasing risk due to habitat fragmentation, conflicts between harvesting and recreational uses, differing values held by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and a rapidly changing climate which impacts their foundational ecosystem support systems.

Most of nature’s ecosystem values are not measured by traditional economic methods. Yet they provide real assets critical to humanity’s survival. Some innovative approaches are now being considered, such as carbon credits for retaining large intact old growth forests in the Great Bear Rainforest, but many key values are simply not formally recognized in resource decisions.

This leads to degradation of ecosystem values. Many small, isolated yet critical ecosystems such as patches of old growth are being harvested as their vital values for ecosystem integrity are not fully accounted in resource decisions.

The level of ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest is not replicated elsewhere in the Province of British Columbia. To reduce increasing risks due to factors outlined above, there is a vital need to integrate water, lands and resource planning, and where appropriate, marine protection. Healthy rivers rely on carefully managed land-based resources of forestry, range and agriculture in their watersheds.

Sound management of ecosystem values requires rigorous, independent monitoring of activities on the ground. There is evidence that insufficient resources are being applied to this function in the Great Bear Rainforest and elsewhere.

Signed:

(Your name here)

 

Email this letter and/or phone:

Find your MLA’s email here:
https://www.leg.bc.ca/learn-about-us/members

Premier John Horgan
premier@gov.bc.ca
1-250-387-1715

Fin Donnelly, MLA Coquitlam-Burke Mountain
fin.donnelly.MLA@leg.bc.ca
1-604-942-5020

Hon. Seamus O’Regan, Minister of Natural Resources
seamus.oregan@parl.gc.ca
1-613-992-0927

Hon. Nathan Cullen, Minister of State for Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Stikine
nathan.cullen.MLA@leg.bc.ca
1-250-842-6338

Hon. George Heyman, Environment and Climate Change Strategy
ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca
1-250-387-1187

Hon. Katrine Conroy, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
1-250-387-6240

Hon. Ravi Kohlon, Minister for Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation
JTT.Minister@gov.bc.ca
1-250-356-2771

Hon. Murray Rankin, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation
IRR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
1-250-953-4844

Hon. Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister Wilkinson
Terry.Duguid@parl.gc.ca
1-613-995-7517

Hon. Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
Bernadette.Jordan@parl.gc.ca
1-613-996-0877

Hon. Marie -Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Marie-Claude.Bibeau@parl.gc.ca
1-613-995-2024

Also, please send a copy to your MLA. Find your MLA’s email here:
https://www.leg.bc.ca/learn-about-us/members

Please be sure to cc: info@creativelyunited.org when sending your letter.
Thank YOU!

 

Additional Q&A

Q. Why in your experience do people undergo the inner change from the predator-state of mind to a partner state of mind?

A. I think when this does happen it is because of the understanding that we are part of this planet and it supports us, not the other way around. This usually comes with time, wisdom and experience in the natural world.

Q. Can the GBRF and the environment as a whole be saved as long as human population keeps rising? You haven’t mentioned population at all.

A. Population is a critical issue for the planet but not for the Great Bear region. The problem is that the rest of the world wants the trees, fish, minerals, water etc found in the Great Bear and that is simply unsustainable.

Q. Which NGOs are the most effective in conservation of BC wild areas?

A. There are a lot of conservation groups in this province and they are all underfunded and under resourced to make the change that is needed. I would recommend supporting all of them but Pacific Wild certainly comes to mind.