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COPA needs your help in informing the BC government of our
views regarding their plans to discriminate against floatplanes in their
management of extensive areas of the province.
COPA’s Flight 72, the BC Floatplane Association (BCFA), as well as COPA
provincial Directors Tony Swain and Ken Armstrong, have been actively involved
in extensive negotiations over the past few years to develop a partnership for
management of the BC parks while maintaining floatplane access to lakes. The
concept is simple and easy to understand:
Aircraft are the least damaging to the environment compared to all other means
of access.
Cars need roads cut into the wilderness.
Boats need vehicles and hence roads to get them to lakes.
Even hikers need trails to get to the lakes.
Certainly, aircraft create noise but for a very short period of time and then
all that they leave are ripples on the water, again for a very brief time.
In return for access to lakes, the BCFA will help monitor use of the lakes for
the government.
After extensive negotiations, a draft plan has been developed by the government
http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/planning/mgmtplns/stikine/stikine.htm.
The draft plan ignores most of the agreements that were developed with the BCFA,
calls into question the consultation process, is impractical and is even unsafe
to manage.
We urge you to do as COPA Director Ken Armstrong and BCFA Director John Baker
have done - lend your voice to the BCFA and COPA so that the government can
understand who we are and why we believe they should work with us for the good
of the environment and enjoyment of people.
Below are the key people for you to contact. I suggest that you send your own
cover letter, highlighting concerns from your own perspective.
Even though you may not fly a floatplane, this issue is a fundamental freedom
issue and the illogical approach to aviation can be used in other areas such as
overflights, private airstrips, etc.
The Honourable Gordon Campbell
Premier, Government of B.C.
PO Box 9041, STN PROV GOVT,
Victoria, B.C., V8W 9E1
Fax: 250 387-0087; E-mail: premier@gov.bc.ca
The Honourable Joyce Murray,
Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection
PO Box 9047, STN PROV GOVT,
Victoria, B.C., V8W 9E2
Fax: 250 387-1356
E-mail: Joyce.Murray.mla@leg.bc.ca
Mr. Peter Levy, Senior Planner
Environmental Stewardship Division,
BC Parks Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection,
Bag 5000, Smithers, B.C., V0J 2N0.
Fax: 250-847-7728;
E-mail: peter.levy@gems6.gov.bc.ca