Latest News Releases

News release: June 22, 2005

Economic study says Waterton Park expansion would boost economy of East Kootenay

Press conference at 1 pm MDT, June 22, 2005 Fernie Salon, Prestige Inn, Cranbrook

Resource economist Jim Johnson of Pacific Analytics is in Cranbrook today to release his study, The Economic Implications of Expanding Waterton Lakes National Park into the Flathead Region of British Columbia.

The comprehensive study concludes that “the park expansion would provide significant economic opportunities to regional communities by lessening their dependence on traditional resource extraction.”

Surprisingly, these new economic activities would not come primarily from tourism.

The primary benefit is the economic activity that would stem from proximity to a national park. The study finds “One of the most important findings of the many economic studies that have examined the impacts of national parks on local communities is that the majority of jobs are in non-traditional, light manufacturing and services that take advantage of the technological improvements in transportation and communications that have occurred in the last decade”.

The driver for this economic activity is a national park that attracts “amenities migrants”. These are people with mobile capital and skills who are looking to work and live near high quality natural environments.

“Amenity migrants are disproportionately well- educated, financially established often with transferable sources of income (like investment incomes and pensions) and have work skills that easily transfer to smaller communities. These people bring with them jobs, income and the capital to start new businesses in the community. They also bring with them demands for housing, household services, education and health services” (see backgrounder for more).

Johnson analyzed the costs of reduced logging, hunting and resource extraction and compared them with the benefits of the new amenities migrants and Parks Canada spending that the park would bring and concluded “the economic benefits associated with the park far outweigh the costs”

The report notes that in the past decade the Elk Valley region of southeast BC has underperformed the provincial economy because of its over-dependence on cyclical resource extraction industries. Other communities, like Invermere, that have protected natural amenities nearby have done better. The report concludes that “Protecting one third of the Flathead Valley in an expanded Waterton Lakes National Park has the potential to move the economy to a more sustainable base and to reinvigorate the economy of southeastern British Columbia.”

Johnson will be available to answer questions. Copies of the report will be available at the press conference and on the web at wildsight.ca, cpaws.org, cpawsbc.org and y2y.net.

The report was commissioned by three conservation organizations: Wildsight (formerly East Kootenay Environmental Society), Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

For further information contact:
Casey Brennan, Program Manager, Wildsight
Mobile telephone 250-423-0402
casey@wildsight.ca

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News release: September 3, 2003

Cranbrook, BC

East Kootenay Environmental Society

Southern Rockies Management Plan Fails to Protect Wildlife

Political interference in the planning process for the Southern Rocky Mountains has left conservationists wondering why they spent six months meeting and negotiating in a multi-stakeholder process only to have joint recommendations ignored.

This past week, the Liberal government announced its Southern Rockies Management Plan, supposedly based on a multi-stakeholder process, which the government promised would provide economic and social benefits while protecting wildlife and the environment. According to the East Kootenay Environmental Society (EKES), a participant in the process, it has failed on all counts.

"Government’s announcement is no more than window dressing on the status quo," said EKES Land Use Spokesperson John Bergenske. "It ignores many of the recommendations that resulted from months of stakeholder negotiations. The plan is not legislated, nor is it enforceable. Key recommendations on motorized access were axed by the politicians at the eleventh hour. While there was once optimism that a good plan could be made to work, the government undermined the community process, science and wildlife protection. We’re right back to having to fight for every bit of wildlife habitat protection watershed by watershed."

When the Liberals came to power, they overturned the previous government’s Southern Rocky Mountain Conservation Area and set up a new planning process. Representatives from all interests met for six months and made recommendations to government. But EKES says these recommendations were then revised according to political direction. The stakeholder table was denied the chance to review changes before the government decision. "It appears that lobbying the MLA is much more important than working with all the committed stakeholders in the room and more important than using the best science available. The last minute changes ignore the recommendations of a public process designed by the government itself. If government required changes to the stakeholder table’s plan, they should have at least referred back to the entire group for comment rather than working with a select group of MLA Bill Bennett’s cronies," says Bergenske.

"Where is the incentive to work cooperatively in a government-led process? We are left with a weak plan and a feeling of betrayal," concluded Bergenske. "Bringing in a plan with no legislative teeth and minimal controls on impacts to wildlife habitat spells disaster for wildlife protection in the Southern Rockies. Despite a lot of hard work by stakeholder groups, an opportunity has been squandered."

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Contact: John Bergenske, EKES Land Use Spokesperson, 250 422-3566