Member Recommendation: Keen
CPAWS – BC is working to secure permanent protection of up to 18.8 million acres of intact wilderness in northwest British Columbia, known as the Northwest Critical Conservation Corridor (NCCC). The next 12–24 months represent a defining window. Three concurrent Crown–First Nations’ land use planning processes are underway across the region, while the federal government has simultaneously identified the corridor as a priority zone for critical minerals and infrastructure development. Decisions made now will determine whether this landscape becomes a globally significant conservation network or a fragmented industrial corridor.
The NCCC encompasses subalpine meadows, alpine tundra, glaciers, boreal forests, and wild river systems that support grizzly bears, caribou, wolves, wolverines, mountain goats, and globally important salmon-bearing watersheds. Its size and ecological connectivity make it a critical refuge for biodiversity and climate resilience — storing vast amounts of carbon, regulating water flows, and providing corridors for wildlife movement across BC, Yukon, and Alaska.
CPAWS – BC is deepening partnerships with the Tahltan, Taku River Tlingit, and Kaska Dena Nations, providing technical support — including GIS mapping, spatial analysis, and ecological data synthesis — to strengthen Indigenous-led conservation proposals. The organization is also engaging directly in land use planning processes through submissions, technical recommendations, and collaboration with provincial staff and regional allies to embed conservation priorities into emerging land use scenarios. They are working to secure explicit commitments from provincial and federal decision-makers and build broad public and cross-sector support for the NCCC vision.
