Better stewards, better rivers

Pass on the enjoyment and protect the environment. That was the thinking behind 7 Canyons Advetures Pass it On program, started two years ago. At the end of each wetland wildlife safari in the Columbia River marshes near Golden, B.C. (pictured), each guest is invited to take a Pass it On postcard to be given to other travelers, family or friends. In the future, if the receipients join 7 Canyons for a tour and hand in their card the company will donate $5 to Wildsight, a local environmental organization.

"It's a pay it forward concept," says Larry Sparks, 7 Canyons general manager. "We've had a great response so far. And they generate a lot of conversation."

It's a selfless act but one that is familiar to Jim DeHart, executive director of the BC River Outfitters Association, a coalition of the province's best river tour companies. "As an association we have leading best practices guidelines in safety, stewardship and guest experience," he says. "But all of our members still manage to exceed them, especiall on the environmental front."

DeHart's own company, Destiny River Adventures, on vancovuer Island, charges a $2 habitat surcharge, raising more than $8,000 for local environmental and river restoration projects.
Canadian River Expeditions, now Nahanni River Adventures, was a driving force behind the creation of Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park, protecting the northern B.C. wilderness from mine development.

On the Thompson and Fraser rivers north east of Vancouver, Kumsheen Rafting Resort has instilled clients with a value for rivers and is a supporter of the Creek Protection Society of B.C.

The list of good deeds goes on. Each company has its own story, but the important thing, says DeHart, is that the companies that rely on rivers are the biggest stewards, as well.

Running on neutral - carbon neutral

Bluewater Adventures and Spirit of the West Adventures went carbon neutral this year, the first companies of their kind to do so.

"We decided that to be a responsible and sustainable business, and to really call what we do ecotourism, we had to do a lot more than recycle," says Breanne Quesnel of Spirit of the West, a sea kayaking tour operator based on Quadra Island near Campbell River. "We had to make our operation as sustainable as possible and part of that was becoming carbon neutral." This sentiment is echoed by Bluewater adventures, whose owner Randy Burke operates a beautiful sailing ship on the B.C. coast.

Gong carbon neutral doesn't mean the companies have eliminated all their carbon emissions. Rather they have worked to eliminate or reduce as much as they can and for the remainder they have purchased carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are like buying shares in projects that remove future carbon emissions, with two important caveats: the projects wouldn't happen without the financial support and the amount of carbon eliminated is quantifiable.

WTA members leading the way to carbon free energy

Members of the BC Wilderness Tourism Association are working towards a day when they will be carbon neutral with funding from the government.

The Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund, announced by Premier Gordon Campbell, provides $25-million to off-the-grid businesses and communities to develop innovative, clean energy projects.

“Developing renewable energy projects is not cheap or easy,” says Evan Loveless, WTA executive director. “Funding like this is exactly what our members need to find solutions to their energy needs and achieve their clean, renewable energy goals.”

The money supports the BC Energy Plan and the government's goal of electricity self-sufficiency by 2016 and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. The B.C.'s premier says the ICE Fund will showcase B.C. technologies to the world and drive solutions to climate change.

Already many WTA members are leaders in the use of renewable energy projects, their remote locations forcing them to look for solutions to wean themselves off expensive and carbon emitting generators in exchange for harnessing the wind, sun and water before it became trendy. Strathcona Park Lodge runs almost entirely off a small hydro system with a back up generator only kicking in when a series of small dams run low. Near Golden Hydra River Guides uses solar panels to power their office on the banks of the Kicking Horse River.