Getting to ‘yes’ for an Okanagan national park

The South Okanagan is distinctive for its beauty and for the diversity and uniqueness of its plant and animal species. It is also an ecosystem at peril of being lost to fragmentation and development. The provincial ministry of environment identifies its antelope brush zone as one of the most critically endangered in Canada.

Furthermore, the region sustains 30 per cent of British Columbia’s red-listed species — those are the ones already at risk of imminent extirpation or extinction — and 46 per cent of species which are vulnerable and of special concern. Six vertebrate species are already listed as extirpated. Many others teeter at the brink. “Persecution” is listed as contributing to population declines for creatures as diverse as the burrowing owl, the badger and both peregrine and prairie falcons. But the principal causes are habitat losses due to poor grazing practices on public rangeland, the spread of invasive species by livestock, intensive agriculture and urban development.

So it’s not difficult to understand why support is strong for a large national park reserve in this unique and iconic B.C. landscape. Scientists want a park reserve. Moderate environmental groups like the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society agree. First Nations in the area are unanimous in support. Local chambers of commerce, tourism associations and regional governments like the idea. A survey earlier this year found the public in favour by a margin of three to one over those opposed — a 50 per cent increase in support since the previous poll in 2010. And a detailed Parks Canada study says a park is both feasible and would bring substantial economic benefits to the region — up to 700 jobs and a $50-million annual contribution to GDP.

Yet what should be a slam-dunk response to an obvious problem appears stalled in a bramble thicket of provincial government dithering, dissimulation and obfuscation as it attempts to appease anti-park lobbyists that include a few ranchers and hunters worried about access and developers who don’t want to lose potentially valuable real estate prospects.

True, the prevalence of private land complicates matters. Any park plan must seek to address legitimate concerns from all community stakeholders. But whether a worthy plan desired by the majority of citizens, their local governments, business and other organizations should be derailed to accommodate lifestyle choices for the few at the expense of the many deserves a major re-think by the provincial government. The status quo is not an option — except for continued landscape degradation.

It’s not as though we don’t have an existing model of how preservation of a rare ecosystem can accommodate the interests of private landholders and the lifestyle choices of a minority while protecting fragile landscapes. We do. It’s called the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve. Environment Minister Mary Polak flies over it every time she travels from Victoria.

Leadership requires leaders to lead. Leadership is missing on the South Okanagan grasslands reserve file. It’s time for Premier Christy Clark to intervene, to take decisive charge, ensure there’s an inclusive and transparent review process and find the stakeholder consensus to do what needs to be done before it’s too late to do it at all, which would be morally wrong and politically indefensible.