Be Wild in BC - The Magazine of the BC Wilderness Tourism Association


the online magazine of the British Columbia Wilderness Tourism Association	Search

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The WTA is proud to be an approved recipient of 1% For the Planet.


	The people and businesses of the WTA are diverse ranging from tourism veterans to mountain guides, luxury floating lodges to rustic backcountry accommodation. Read more about them, below.

	Brad Harrison - Wilderness Workaholic To appreciate the pace of Harrison's life, try tagging along with him on a typical day at the Alpine Club of Canada's annual General Mountaineering Camp

	Fraser River Raft Expeditions - A footprint on the Fraser Darwin and Sue Baerg: 20 years of paddling softly down the river - by Clare Morrison

	At Last Frontier Heliskiing reducing their environment impact is as important as the skiing - by Clare Morrison

Most businesses spend serious amounts of time and money in projects to preserve and enhance British Columbia’s wild places. Their efforts have created parks, helped wildlife and rejuvenated communities. Learn more about them by reading some of their Stewardship Stories below and on the Wilderness Tourism Associations website.
Babine Norlakes		Bluewater Adventures
	His trout lodge and steelhead camp relied on the watershed's health, so Clegg set out to protect the wilderness values of the river, a mission that he continues today.		Slow travel is green travel. Today it's possible to compare features on almost everything from TVs to the fuel consumption of a car before you buy. It makes it easy to make smart, informed decisions and as the green movement grows, environmentally friendly ones too. One day soon Randy Burke hopes that will include the carbon footprint of a holiday.

Clayoquot Wilderness Resorts & Spa		Destiny River Adventures
	For the last five years they have been actively investing in their Environmental Legacy Program; $3 million funded by resort revenues dedicated to five areas of environmental stewardship...		Destiny River Adventures helps raise money, donates time and raft trips for local habitat enhancement projects, environmental programs and educational activities.

Ecosummer Expeditions		Fraser River Raft Expeditions
	Being a small fish in a big pond means that taking on a big fight is more of a challenge, but that hasn't stopped Andy Schwaiger, owner of Ecosummer Expeditions, from doing what he can.		After the couple made a trip through the canyon, they were motivated to increase their own low impact travel methods on the trips that they run down the Fraser River...

Great Bear Nature Tours		Knight Inlet Lodge
	"We put a lot of effort into making sure we're sustainable," says Tom Rivest, operator and part owner of Great Bear Nature Tours, located in the Central Coast of B.C. "We minimize our footprint in every aspect of our operation."		This is the newest project in a continuous study of the 43 grizzly bears living near the lodge and just one of many studies that the lodge funds every year...

Klinaklini Outfitters		Last Frontier Heliskiing
	He also encourages his guests to leave no trace of their daily recreation activities. "It's an incredible wilderness," Erickson says, and as long as he's involved in the Klinaklini, he will fight to keep it that way.		To date, there is no conclusive study or even a general agreement on the impact that helicopter traffic has on mountain goat populations. But, with 60 percent of British Columbia's mountain goat population residing in a location that is just a short helicopter ride from Last Frontier Heliskiing's tenure, the company decided, "Why risk it?"

Maple Leaf Adventures		Mistaya Lodge
	The long time marine park ranger has devoted much of his free time to protecting BC's coast, independently and as the owner of a company offering wilderness sailing tours...		Tucked in a sub-alpine basin, rubbing shoulders with two national parks, it's only natural that Cindy Galligan and Dave Birnie, owners of Mistaya Lodge, leave as small a footprint as possible on their fragile home.

Mothership Adventures		National Outdoor Leadership School
	They don't make them like they used to. It's probably an overused phrase, but when it comes to the Gardner diesel engine powering the Columbia III, a 1950s hospital ship turned small tour ship, the saying holds true.		Today, with 75,000 students educated and those numbers on the rise, NOLS continues to lead the industry. While the company runs programs in British Columbia, its influence in ëleave no trace' ethics is felt across the province and worldwide.

Nechako Lodge		Nimmo Bay Resort
	Nuts, crazy, gone wild; British Columbia's battle against the mountain pine beetle has been described many different ways. However, Josef Doerig, owner of Nechako Lodge and Aviation views the beetle problem as part of a larger issue, and he's fighting back.		"You always have to be on the cutting edge," says Craig Murray, the owner and operator of Nimmo Bay. For 26 years his remote lodge on the mainland coast has been setting the standard for sustainable, environmentally conscious tourism.

Siwash Lake Ranch		Spirit of the West Adventures
	Protecting the Cariboo. "We're like the den mother to this area," says Allyson Rogers, who built, owns and runs Siwash Lake Ranch, an exclusive and remote guest ranch on the Bonaparte Plateau. This dedication has garnered Siwash a Five Green Keys award by the Hotel Association of Canada, under the Green Hotels Program, every year since 2007.		Calculating a carbon footprint for any business is not an easy thing to do. It's even harder if you're the first sea kayak company in British Columbia to go carbon neutral. That was the case for Spirit of the West Adventures, a sea kayaking company based on Quadra Island, near Campbell River, British Columbia.

Strathcona Park Lodge		Tofino Sea Kayaking
	There is no greater environmental legacy than educating the next generation about stewardship. Since 1958, the resort and outdoor education centre has been teaching students of all ages and adventure thirsty families about the importance of preserving wilderness areas, leaving no trace and, of course, inspiring them to want to continue to enjoy wild places.		Eighteen years ago, Baert had just set up her sea kayaking company in Tofino, on Vancouver Island's west coast. The tourism industry was small and weak compared to resource companies. But that didn't stop Dorothy Baert from doing everything she could to protect Clayoquot Sound.