BC Parks need more protection than lofty principles

“Told you so.”

We’ve all had those moments: an ugly story comes to light, and you are just left shaking your head, thinking, “I told you so.”

I had one of those moments earlier this week, when the Auditor General published a scathing report on the state of BC Parks. The report said that the Ministry of Environment has lofty goals and principles about the roles of BC Parks and ecological conservation. Of course it does; it’s all part of the government’s campaign to style the province as “The Best Place on Earth.”

The truth is far less pretty: environmental monitoring and enforcement in the parks is critically lacking, the Auditor said.

No kidding.

The fact is that the Liberals slashed the BC Parks service, especially in the first few years after they came to power. 294 of our members lost their jobs between 2002 and 2004, for instance. The cuts were across the board, but focused particularly on enforcement personnel: conservation officers and scientific technical officers.

This is about so much more than defending public sector jobs; this is about conservation and environmental responsibility. Conservation officers are the public’s eyes and ears on the ground; they are there to uphold complex federal and provincial environmental legislation.

Sadly, there are just 89 conservation officers in service today, down from 137 in 2001. That’s 35% less capacity, even as the number of parks and protected areas in the province has increased. About 14% of the province is now a BC Parks or other protected designation.

The auditor is asking a very important question: who is keeping watch over BC’s beautiful parks? Right now, it’s the status quo: the Ministry of Environment Service Plan has the BC Parks budget flatlined until 2013.

The government needs to listen to the auditor general and do more to protect our parks and natural reserves.