Dear Editor:

When I first read Aubrey White’s Letter to the Editor in the Sept. 9 edition of the Osoyoos Times, I thought it was going to be an appeal to the local population who are in support of the establishment of the national park to access the provincial government website and complete the questionnaire requesting feedback.

Certainly if he had been following the polling process, White would have remembered the majority, by a significant margin, are those in favour of the establishment of a national park in our region.

Nowhere in the document published by the Okanagan Nation Alliance on the concept of establishing a National Park Reserve do I find reference to the idea of First Nations being given management control of such a park.

As White quotes from their document, “the areas dedicated to the national park would be managed in partnership with the Sylix people under a consensus-based co-operative stewardship regime.”

Personally, having lived on Haida Gwaii for five years during the establishment of that National Park Reserve, in my observations I saw nothing that indicated that either the federal government or the Haida Nation were running the show exclusively.

That park was/is very well managed for the enjoyment of the local population, and, critical to the local economy, attracts thousands of visitors from other parts of Canada and the rest of the world.

In reference to White’s comments that “our provincial parks currently provide protection and management of the wildlife and wilderness areas, while restricting commercial development “, and that “wildlife and wilderness in the South Okanagan are not endangered”, I would remind him that in the South Okanagan we have 57-plus species that are designated as species at risk.

This is the most in the country. Under a national park system, care and restoration of endangered species is required by federal legislation.

Unfortunately, under provincial jurisdiction there is almost no protection of endangered species. For anyone who has visited a provincial park recently, it is painfully obvious how underfunded their operations are.

Also as others and I have pointed out on a number of occasions, under the amendment of the Provincial Park Act,  resource development within a provincial park can still be allowed.

Having said all this, I still commend Provincial Environment Minister Mary Polak for trying to find a compromise solution.

For those of us advocating for a national park, in a perfect world, all of the proposed land would be protected under national park status.

We will all also continue to advocate for greater protection in the proposed land potentially designated as a provincial conservancy.

In the meantime, I hope that advocates on both sides of the issue can move forward in a more co-operative manner.

Editor’s Note: Aubrey White is the vice president of the Osoyoos Wildlife Federation and his recent letter strongly suggested the “silent majority” of residents across the South Okanagan are opposed to a national park reserve in this region and asked that they voice their concerns to the provincial government.

Thank you for allowing me to comment on this important issue.

Thor Manson

Gallagher Lake, B.C.