FILE PHOTO - Tsútswecw Provincial Park in the Shuswap is pictured with fire damage from the Bush Creek East wildfire in 2023.
Image Credit: Adams River Salmon Society
April 08, 2024 - 7:00 PM
A town hall meeting is being held this weekend in Kelowna to discuss the preservation of primary forests for water and wildlife protection in the BC Interior with the hope of inspiring new forest policies.
The Interior Watershed Task Force coalition will be hosting the public meeting at the UBCO campus and members of the community are invited to take part, according to a news release.
Political and community leaders, and activists will be present to inform and listen to citizen's concerns, including syilx elders and knowledge keepers Grouse and Pamela Barnes.
“All I can say is action is better than words," K’ninm’tm’ta? n’q’wic’tn’s Wilfred "Grouse” Barnes of Westbank First Nation, said in the release. “For us to help protect it, to help keep it clean is far better than just talking about it.”
Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris will be the keynote speaker for the event. Morris has based a large part of his career at the Legislative Assembly informing other politicians about the dangers of clearcut logging in BC.
“British Columbia’s new normal should not be wildfires and widespread flooding threatening the lives and safety of our citizens. It should not be the extirpated wildlife populations or depleted salmon and steelhead runs. It should not be the loss of hundreds of thousands of songbirds every year,” Morris said in the release.
Other experts in attendance will include Conservation North's Michelle Connolly, Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society's Jennifer Houghton, as well as UBC hydrologist Dr. Younes Alila and UBC environmental anthropologist Dr. John Wagner.
The coalition's goal is to raise awareness about historical and recent logging and forest industry wrongdoings by partnering with community members and organizations and using scientific information and discoveries to inspire policy changes.
The town hall will be held from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13 at UBCO's Arts and Sciences Centre, 3187 University Way.
Go here for more information and to register for the event.
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