Canada's national parks are economic drivers

A national park in the South Okanagan Similkameen will benefit not only conservation and species at risk, but will also enhance and stabilize local economies.

National parks are major contributors to Canada's $55.5 billion tourism industry. They probide over 37,000 direct and indirect full time (equivalent) jobs. Visitors to BC's six national parks spent $320 million in 2000-2001.

The time is now.

Together, we can protect and sustain the beauty, natural quality and biological richness of this nationally significant region.

Why a national park?

This is Canada's only desert ecosystem - one of the hightest priorities for conservation in Canada.

Over 1/3 of BC's threatened and endangered species live here - birds, mammals, and plants found nowhere else in Canada, including the Flammulated owl, Lyall's mariposa lilly, and the great basin spadefoot frog.

Shrub-grasslands and ponderosa grasslands are found in no other Canadian national park.

National parks provide the highest level of protection to public lands.

National parks make economic sense. They contribute $1.2 billion to the GCP each year.

The natural environments of the South Okanagan Similkameen are among the most endangered in Canada.