Across BC’s vast landscape is over 14 million hectares of protected lands and provincial parks. Tourists from around the world flock to these beautiful, picturesque destinations, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy.

And there are only seven people to protect it all.

The Wilderness Committee, a BC-based NGO recently sent out a press release that outlined the dire straights of the BC Parks ranger program, noting that there are fewer park rangers than there are critically endangered spotted owls left in the province.

To discuss what this means, what the consequences truly are, and how the public can help rescue the rangers, Defender Radio was joined by Gwen Barlee of The Wilderness Committee.

As many as 30 Vancouver Island Marmots are presumed dead after their embedded transmitters failed to activate following their hibernation this spring. The Vancouver-area media picked up on this story and made it national news – after all, people in the area have loved them for years.

But for the rest of Canada, the coverage of 30 missing rodents left us scratching our heads. What are Vancouver Island Marmots? Why are people so interested in them? What makes them different from other marmots all across the country? And what difference would it make if they lived on Vancouver Island or not?

To get answers to these questions and many more, Defender Radio was joined by Adam Taylor, Executive Director of The Marmot Recovery Foundation.