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B.C. gives $10M to parks foundation to expand programs

Money will fund programming, including park ambassadors

The province announced $10 million in funding for the BC Parks Foundation to help bolsters its programming.

Backed by the Goldstream Nature House and Mount Finlayson towering overhead, George Heyman, provincial environment minister, said B.C.’s parks have been an “incredibly successful engine to provide benefits for all living things, including humans, for generations to come.”

Some of the money for the foundation, established in 2017 as the official charitable partner of BC Parks, will go towards a re-established park ambassador program that runs youth programming and activities for kids visiting the parks.

Recently, the foundation launched its latest initiative – the 25x25 campaign to protect 25 per cent of B.C.’s land and waters by 2025.

So far, the province has protected around 20 per cent, according to Heyman, adding the foundation funding will be “incredibly helpful” in meeting the provincial government’s goal of protecting 30 per cent of British Columbia’s lands base by 2030.

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