Last call for phone calls: Battle for Jumbo Glacier nearing close!

Have YOU called Gordon Campbell yet?

Wildcanada.net Action Alert
Thursday, October 7, 2004

Imagine a spectacular mountain valley, surrounded by snow capped peaks, complete with grizzly bears and dazzling glaciers where you can hike through wildflower meadows in the summer, and ski untracked powder in the winter. Now imagine a $450 million ski resort and a town of 6500 people there. That’s the stark contrast being offered as the final days of a 13 year battle for Jumbo Glacier, in BC’s Columbia Mountains draws to a close.

The BC government extended their decision date on the proposed Jumbo Glacier Resort to October 18th, 2004. Already thousands of people have written, and hundreds of people have called BC Premier Gordon Campbell asking that he side with the glaciers and the grizzlies over the Jumbo Resort. Have you made your phone call yet?

Dial toll-free in BC: 1-800-663-7867

Outside BC call: 1-604-660-2421

We need to keep the pressure on until the very end. We know that the proponents of the resort will be pressuring the government in these final days. We don’t have the resources to match them dollar for dollar, but we have YOU! And you have YOUR VOICE! Use it! Make that call.

This year alone, we know the BC Government has received 23,347 letters from concerned citizens through the Jumbo Wild action centre. We are certain that many more emails, faxes and hand-written letters have been submitted. We also know Premier Campbell’s office has received at least 400 phone calls of concern over the past few weeks. We are aiming for 600 calls for Jumbo – one phone call for every 10 hectares proposed for resort development.

Media attention on the campaign to keep Jumbo wild has, especially in recent months, grown substantially, and it is evident that the world is watching closely has the BC government prepares a decision. At the recent international Living Lakes Conference, hosted in the nearby Columbia Valley, the International Living Lakes network, with members from over 20 countries, voted unanimously to request the BC government deny approval of the Jumbo Glacier Resort. International representatives expressed concerned about the pollution threat to Jumbo and Toby creeks, the downstream Columbia Lake and Wetlands, and the effects the resort will have on populations of grizzly bears in the central Purcell Mountains.

Please call Premier Campbell’s office now.

Dial toll-free in BC: 1-800-663-7867

Outside BC call: 1-604-660-2421

Email us (info@jumbowild.com) after you make your call so we can keep up the phone call tally!

Tips for your phone call:

Please be polite and respectful when calling. Ask the secretary to record your name and where you live. Here are a few things you could say:

1. The Jumbo Valley is a significant wildlife corridor and is essential grizzly bear habitat.
2. The resort presents a pollution threat to Jumbo and Toby creeks, and the internationally renowned Columbia Lake and Wetlands.
3. I recognize that tourism is a cornerstone of B.C.’s growing economy, but instead of destroying the very wilderness that draws tourists to BC and investing in new mega resorts, invest instead in existing resort towns (such as Fernie, Golden, Invermere, and Kimberley).
4. During the public comment period, the BC Environmental Assessment Office received thousands of comments of concern regarding the environmental, social and economic impacts of this proposal. 90% of letters were in opposition to the resort.
5. If you are a voter in BC… let Premier Campbell know that his decision will inform how you vote at election time next spring.

Let us know you have made your phone call by emailing us at info@jumbowild.com.

For more information please visit Jumbowild.com.

	Have YOU called Campbell yet? Last push to reject the Jumbo Resort: call the Premier’s office at 1-800-663-7867 (within BC) or 1-604-660-2421 (outside BC). Wildcanada.net can’t continue efforts such as the campaign to keep Jumbo wild without your help. Please make a donation now. Tell your friends about the upcoming decision on Jumbo. Ask them to call Campbell too!

	Ontario Provincial Parks Act will finally get review it deserves! After many years of pressure from the Wildlands League, Wildcanada.net and others, the Ontario Liberal government has finally committed to review the 50 year old Ontario Provincial Parks Act. The Ontario Parks Act was written in 1954 when the province had just eight parks. Today, Ontario has more than 600 parks and conservation reserves, but these areas are threatened with new development including mining, logging, road building, and motorized recreation. The Ontario government has committed to a review of the existing legislation and to create new legislation that will put the protection of ecological integrity first in parks management. Since we launched our Ontario Parks Action Centre three years ago, Wildcanada.net and the Wildlands League have been preparing for this review, and you have sent more than 13,000 letters. Look forward to updates on the Ontario Parks Action Centre and important action alerts in the coming weeks on how you can participate in ensuring the Ontario government keeps its promise to ecological integrity in an updated Parks Act.

All images copyright Wildcanada.net the Jumbo Creek Conservation Society