BC wins big at Canadian Tourism Commission Northern Lights travel writing competition

Articles and photos from British Columbia's wilderness destinations won big at the Canadian Tourism Commission's Northern Lights Awards in San Fransisco earlier this month. Backcountry skiing at Sol Mountain Touring, The Great Bear Rainforest and the Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park were all honoured.

The New York Times' Ski Guide 2010 included an article by Mark Sundeen about his ski trip to Sol Mountain Touring, a member of the Backcountry Lodges of BC. Back and Beyond in BC won first prize in the Independent Journalist: Newspaper category.

B.C. freelance writer and contributor to Be Wild in BC, Andrew Findlay won in the Magazine category for his article Howl in the Mist: BC's Marine Wolves, which appeared in Westworld Magazine. In the article Findlay went island hoping in the Great Bear Rainforest with environmentalist Ian McAllister. Other ways of seeing this remote coastal wilderness and the grizzly bears, spirit bears and wolves that inhabit its rainforest is with Maple Leaf Adventures, Bluewater Adventures, members of the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC, fishing resorts and many sea kayak companies like Kingfisher Adventures, Ecosummer Expeditions and Coast Mountain Expeditions.

A photo taken by Chris Harris in British Columbia Magazine of the Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park won first prize for a Photograph. The mountainous and very remote park is on the western edge of the Chilcotin Mountains and is best reached by horseback. Try the BC Guest Ranches for operators in the park.

The Northern Lights Awards are given to journalists who wrote or captured images about Canadian travel destinations and is awarded every year at the CTC's annual international conference the Canadian Media Marketplace, which brings together writers, editors and photographers and tourism representatives from across the country.

One percent is more than you think

Maple Leaf Adventures is one of many Wilderness Tourism Association members who gave one percent of revenue to environmental causes last year as part of 1% for the Planet. The tall masted schooner tour operator, pictured at right, belongs to the environmental non profit created by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Craig Matthews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies. 1% For The Planet verifies donations and evaluates recipient organizations to ensure donations are truly going to benefit nature.

Subscriber businesses can pick what organizations they want to donate to. In Maple Leaf’s case it was the Wilderness Tourism Association and Raincoast Conservation Foundation, a conservation organization on the B.C. central coast.

Raincoast used the 2009 donation to publish their annual Tracking Raincoast, a compilation of the year's scientific research and findings, conservation work and plans for the future. In 2008, Raincoast used Maple Leaf's donation to assist with spring and fall monitoring of their 24,000 sq km guide-outfitting territory. The organization bought the license for hunting grizzlies in the tenure and patrol to watch for illegal hunting and other activities that negatively impact grizzlies. 

The WTA used the money to fund its advocacy and education work to enhance the wilderness tourism experience in B.C.

Maple Leaf captain and owner Kevin J. Smith says donating money to causes like 1% for the Planet are part of a long term vision needed to make a difference in wild places. “I’m talking about the governments that created parks and protected areas, and all the people that proposed those to the governments. Also the people that worked so hard to make hunting whales illegal. Now humpback whales are delighting our guests all along the coast. That’s investment in nature coming to fruition on many fronts.” 

Siwash goes totally solar for sustainability

For remote, wilderness businesses getting electrified is expensive. The easiest option is a diesel generator, but these are polluting, noisy and always hungry for cash. Few operations can ever get rid of them completely, relying on them as a backup, but many members of the Wilderness Tourism Association have found ways to augment their power with sustainable means.

Siwash Lake Guest Ranch, a luxury, boutique guest ranch, is one of the few using solar power (pictured). And this fall, with the help of EA Energy Alternatives, the fly fishing and horseback riding operation ramped up their solar feed to offset 90 percent of their diesel generator.  The ranch installed a state-of-the-art solar photovoltaic system for electricity creation and also retro-fit the hot water heating system, along with new technology to capture excess energy from heated water.  The ranch is also switching from gas powered to solar powered pumps for irrigation and other water systems.

“This project will save $32,000 per year in fuel costs and reduce our annual carbon footprint by 123 tons of green house gases. This is the equivalent of taking 22 passenger vehicles of the road for one year," says Allyson Rogers, owner and proprietor at Siwash Lake Ranch. "At Siwash Lake Ranch we are an advocate of local energy-efficiency and we’re proud to set an example for other small businesses that want to achieve both growth and a small environmental footprint. Our guests are excited about all the work we do to make our operations as sustainable as possible and they’ve told us they also want to support other similar businesses that show innovation and leadership in response to the needs of our planet.”

This is far from all Siwash has committed to doing for the environment. Read more on their website under sustainability or in a stewardship story I wrote about them (you can also read about some other alternative energy projects).