News

December 05-January 2006

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

The Trade Association of Paddlesports

(TAPS) raised funds for charities this fall at their West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium in Port Townsend. TAPS’ annual September event is the largest and oldest of its kind in North America and was a big success again this year with a great turn-out and lots of fun. One of the most exciting parts this year was the re-introduction of a Silent Auction, raising funds for two charities, Creative Opportunities for Recreational Kayakers (CORK), a Canadian based organization who assists people with disabilities to try kayaking, and Healing Waters, a US group providing recreational paddling opportunities for youth with HIV and AIDS. The Trade Association raised $2200 US for each charity and looks forward to continuing this fundraising in the future. Additionally, TAPS raised $1500 US for the Red Cross to be directed to Hurricane relief, and helped Simon Osborne, one of the event’s keynote speakers, raise over $700 for leukemia. TAPS Executive Director Paul German thanks everyone who supported these causes. www.gopaddle.org

 

Diana won an Enigma at the Georgia Strait Alliance Auction.

An Enigma kayak, donated to the Georgia Strait Alliance by Extreme Interface

for GSA’s Gala Dinner/Auction fundraiser in October, was won by none other than Diana Mumford of WaveLength! Participants in the auction were able to buy tickets throughout the evening, with the draw coming at the end of the program. Diana’s winning ticket was pulled after a very funny live auction conducted by comedian Arvid Chalmers and an inspiring speech by former BC Environment Minister Rafe Mair, in which he lauded the work of WaveLength columnist Alexandra Morton in her fight against fish farms. But the Strait of Georgia was the big winner of the evening, with $30,000 raised for marine conservation. Thanks to everyone involved.

The 4th Annual Indian Arm Paddle-a-thon for Thwaytes Landing

was held this fall, with 72 paddlers and 20 boat-cruise participants visiting Thwaytes Landing, raising several thousand dollars. But the persistence of The Land Conservancy of BC in promoting Thwaytes (due in part to the paddle-a-thon), also resulted in a surprise $100,000 donation this fall from Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC).

The MEC gift stems from the outdoor retailer’s commitment to social and environmental leadership. By fostering partnerships with organizations like TLC, MEC helps conserve places of significant recreational or wilderness value. “Conservation of significant lands is as important as ever,” said MEC’s CEO Peter Robinson. “We’re proud to assist The Land Conservancy in its efforts to secure Thwaytes Landing for this and future generations.”

Thwaytes Landing is a 130-acre historic property, located halfway up Indian Arm. It is one of the few residentially-zoned large waterfront properties remaining in the Lower Mainland. The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and the District of North Vancouver each have contributed generously to its purchase, and the park is being managed by the GVRD as a Regional Recreation Area. Thwaytes Landing has become an increasingly popular destination for kayakers, canoeists and boaters who enjoy the shoreline as a day-use rest area while exploring Indian Arm.

Including MEC’s wonderful gift, more than $350,000 has been raised for Thwaytes Landing. TLC is responsible for raising an additional $300,000 to complete the purchase.

TLC is a non-profit, charitable land trust working throughout BC to protect BC’s natural and cultural sites. Since 1997, TLC has protected almost 100,000 acres of sensitive lands around the province, involving more than 100 projects, raising almost $25 million directly and leveraging at least another $40 million to support their conservation work. For more, see www.conservancy.bc.ca.

WaveLength cartoonist Paul Mason

is now featured on our website with his new, ‘Bubble Street’ comic strip. Click on the Bubble Street logo at www.WaveLengthMagazine.com to see his latest strip which will be updated every two weeks. There is also an archive of recent past cartoons there for your viewing pleasure!

The 2nd Rideau Canal Folding Kayak Flotilla

will be held the week of Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 August, 2006 on the picturesque Rideau Canal at Chaffeys Lock, located between Smith Falls and Kingston on Lake Ontario. There’s no registration necessary and no entrance fee. For more info, contact Mike Lomas via e-mail at mlomas@magma.ca or by phone 613-239-0014, or visit www.folbotforum.com. The first Rideau Canal Folding Kayak Flotilla was held in August 2004 with 26 kayakers attending. Check out some pictures of that first flotilla at http://flotilla2004.tripod.com/.

The 200 km Rideau Canal is being designated as a World Heritage site. If you visit Ken Watson’s excellent website (www.rideau-info.com) you can get an idea of the uniqueness of this waterway.

Take a moment to watch “Shifting Baselines in the Surf”

at www.shiftingbaselines.org, a short video which challenges us to think more clearly about what we define as a healthy coastal environment.

A major victory for orcas has been achieved.

The ‘resident’ population of orcas that visit southern Georgia Strait in BC and Washington state’s Puget Sound every summer has finally been listed as an ‘endangered species’ under the US federal Endangered Species Act.

“This has taken a long time, but it’s finally official,” says Laurie MacBride, Executive Director of the Georgia Strait Alliance, one of the groups that went to court in the USA to force action on this. “It gives the orcas the strongest possible protection under the law so it’s a victory for all the groups involved.” The whales had already been listed as ‘endangered’ in Canada by Canadian officials.

Bob Lohn, regional administrator for National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA) Fisheries Service’s Northwest region says that “the Southern Resident killer whale population is at risk of extinction, and should be listed as endangered. By giving it protection under the ESA, we have a better chance of keeping this population alive for future generations.”

The Southern Resident killer whale population experienced a 20 percent decline in the 1990s, raising concerns about its future. Many members of the group were captured during the 1970s for commercial display aquariums. It currently stands at 89 whales.

The whales continue to be put at risk from vessel traffic, toxic chemicals, limits on availability of food, especially salmon, and small number of sexually mature males. Because the population is small, it is susceptible to catastrophic risks, such as disease or oil spills.

NOAA Fisheries Service: www.nmfs.noaa.gov

NOAA: www.noaa.gov

 

However... the US Endangered Species Act is being gutted.

In a 229 to 193 vote, falling largely along party lines, the House of Representatives passed a new bill misnamed the “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005”, which systematically removes every proven recovery tool from the Endangered Species Act. The existing Endangered Species Act protects 1,300 of the country’s most endangered plants and animals. Originally created in 1973, it has saved over 99% of these species from extinction including the Bald Eagle, Grizzly Bear, Gray Wolf and Sea Otter. It has also lived up to its mission to “protect the ecosystems upon which endangered species depend” by preserving over 200 million acres of essential wildlife habitat from Hawaii to Maine.

“The new bill takes a wrecking ball to our nation’s most important wildlife protection law,” said Kieran Suckling, policy director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Endangered Species Act is the safety net for America’s imperiled plants and animals. The Republican- dominated House of Representatives have ripped it apart.”

Critical habitat is one of the most successful provisions of the Endangered Species Act: species with protected critical habitat are recovering twice as fast as species without it.

“Habitat destruction is the main cause of extinction,” said Suckling. “This bill sends conservation back to the stone age. It eliminates the most important, most scientifically-based, most successful approach to protecting ecosystems.”

In a stunning blow to the country’s system of checks and balances, the bill exempts the production and spraying of pesticides from review under the Endangered Species Act.

The bill replaces the Endangered Species Act’s focus on using only the “best available science” and relying on scientists to define what is best, with a completely political system: it allows the Secretary of Interior, a political appointee, to define what science should and should not be used.

The new bill takes the Fish and Wildlife Service’s budget hostage by allowing corporations to reap hundreds of millions of dollars by simply asserting that they have been harmed by endangered species protections. The Department of Interior will then have to pay the corporations for their speculative “foregone” profits out of the budget established for America’s national parks, wildlife refuges and endangered species.

“This provision of the bill is a litigation magnet,” said Suckling. “Even the White House budget office concluded that it will dramatically increase corporate lawsuits against the Department of Interior at an enormous cost to the American tax payer.”

Visit www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/ for alerts on the Senate version of the bill.