Our Work

Vancouver and Victoria are among a minority of watersheds ( yet a majority of the population of BC) that have long ago banned any activity in their boundaries. Everywhere else in B.C., people are told they must balance the needs of industry and the environment.

Today, resource extraction and other industrial activities are permitted in community watersheds — the place where you get your drinking water — and this includes commercial logging, the construction of logging roads as well as legacy roads, mining, ATV’s, cattle ranching, unregulated recreation and hunting use.

We believe that it’s time this double standard ended; it’s time to take action to protect our publicly owned land and all the values of our watershed, especially our water.

An intact forest protects our water and wildlife, and helps mitigate against climate change.

We believe that forestry jobs can mean replanting and restoration, not just harvesting. Jobs can be maintained by logging selectively; utilizing trees instead of burning them in slash piles; planting a variety of trees, plants and shrubs; saving trees from disease; and wildfire mitigation work around cities and towns. These are just a few examples of ways in which we can keep the forest healthy while keeping the foresters employed. The status quo has closed 200 mills in B.C. the past 20 years with over 22,000 jobs lost due to mismanagement and automation; this cannot continue.

Many members of the Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance know this land. They see the industrial impacts – most of them with no mitigation or restoration requirements – are causing soil erosion and heavy run off, resulting in undrinkable water and increasingly, flood conditions.

Learn more about Peachland’s watershed, about what PWPA is doing, and our 10-Point Action Plan by viewing our general slide show.

Activities