Environment Minister Mary Polak announces at a press conference that the province will be resuming talks with the federal government on a possible national park reserve in the South Okanagan. (Richard McGuire photo)
After years without talks, the B.C. government will once again be engaging with the federal government on a possible national park reserve in the South Okanagan.
B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak made the announcement at a news conference Friday at Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos.
But Polak cautioned that with an impending provincial election on May 9, there will be a hiatus during which no substantive progress will be made until after the election.
Participating in the announcement were MLA Linda Larson, who introduced the speakers, and Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie, who expressed cautious optimism.
The announcement reiterated the provincial government’s proposal as outlined in an intentions paper released in August 2015. That proposal received more than 3,400 submissions from the public and stakeholder groups.
The proposal calls for two areas in the north and south to be considered for a national park reserve while a central area, called Area 2, would become a provincial conservancy.
Many of the public submissions called for national park status for Mount Kobau, which is in Area 2, but Polak did not announce any changes for this area.
Area 1 is located between Highway 3 and the U.S. border and Area 3 is located between White Lake and Vaseux Lake near Okanagan Falls.
“Area 1 and Area 3 will be the subject of discussion among the province, the three Okanagan Nation communities and Parks Canada for possible inclusion in a South Okanagan National Park Reserve (NPR),” the province said in a news release. “If these areas do not prove feasible as a NPR, then the province is prepared to open discussions with the three Okanagan Nation communities to protect these areas using the tools under the (B.C.) Park Act.”
The province will continue to work closely with the three Okanagan Nation communities in a government-to-government process to further develop details of the plan, the news release said.
And it will seek to engage with the federal government and the three Okanagan Nation communities around the potential for NPR designation in Areas 1 and 2, the release continued.
Polak said that at this time there have only been preliminary discussions between the two governments, but she believes Parks Canada is showing more flexibility than in the past about protecting the needs of existing users of the land.
Polak emphasized that no private lands would be expropriated either for an NPR or provincial conservancy and said land would only be acquired on a willing-seller, willing-buyer basis.
She also said that existing areas protected by conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would not be included in the NPR, but rather the province would seek land management agreements that would leave those lands under NGO control.
The provincial government withdrew support for a national park in 2011 and there has not been any progress between the two governments since that time.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
