By Canadian Press

Conservation group buys out hunting rights in B.C. rainforest to protect wildlife

Jan 4, 2024 | 12:11 PM

VICTORIA — A British Columbia conservation group says it has purchased exclusive hunting rights to a quarter of the Great Bear Rainforest on the province’s north and central coast to protect wildlife there.

The Raincoast Conservation Foundation says it took two years to raise $1.92 million to buy the 18,000-square-kilometre tenure off commercial hunting operators.

Raincoast’s guide outfitter co-ordinator Brian Falconer says the group has fulfilled all aspects of the purchase except the physical transfer of the hunting licenses, a process that is being completed.

Raincoast says in a statement the purchase makes the environmental group the largest hunting tenure holder in B.C., with six tenures covering more than 56,000 square kilometres.

Falconer says the acquisitions allow Raincoast to protect wildlife while “lighting a path” to the development of an ecotourism economy “not dependent on killing and extracting things.”

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: North Shore BIA working hard to develop a 'happening place'

24m ago

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Moons

Dec 10, 2024

Question of the Week

Should Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson apologize or resign after it was found he breached a section of council's code of conduct for allowing false or misleading information to be communicated?

Dec 09, 2024

The group has been buying hunting rights in the province since 2005, after a 2001 moratorium on grizzly bear hunting was overturned.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2024.

The Canadian Press