Maple Leaf Adventures makes long-term commitment to Raincoast science and research
Maple Leaf Adventures donation is for $100,000 over ten years!
Maple Leaf Adventures is a local expedition cruise company that have supported our research and advocacy for a long time. We are honoured that they’ve committed a 10-year, $100,000 donation to Raincoast Conservation Foundation.
It’s a golden example of how the ecotourism industry and conservation can work hand-in-hand on the British Columbia coast.
In 2012, Maple Leaf was awarded the Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award for promoting the appreciation of Canada’s natural, cultural and aesthetic heritage, while also protecting them. As a long time practitioner of ecotourism, Maple Leaf Adventures pioneered travel in BC’s Great Bear Rainforest and northwestern Vancouver Island and has made significant contributions to conservation.
This new commitment will provide funding certainty to research and stewardship projects in the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the areas that Maple Leaf Adventures operates its trips. The money will help pay wages of a local Indigenous field crew member and a Raincoast Lab scientist, initially, on a multi-year grizzly bear research project in the region.
We are extremely grateful for the extraordinary commitment and support of Maple Leaf Adventures.
“It’s very important to do long-term research, yet these projects are often cut by governments,” said Kevin Smith, Maple Leaf Adventures’ CEO. “The coast is our home, and we are committed to operating our ecotourism business here in the long term, so we are really pleased to support valuable conservation work into the future too.”
Conservation and ecotourism have a symbiotic relationship when done right. In addition to benefitting from the protected areas and healthy wildlife populations that conservation safeguards, Maple Leaf Adventures’ guests are able to visit with community stewards and Raincoast scientists on the trips, getting first-hand insight into discoveries, and also into the First Nations whose territories the projects are in.
We are extremely grateful for the extraordinary commitment and support of Maple Leaf Adventures. This action has shown why Maple Leaf Adventures is a visionary company and an industry leader.
Smith hopes it’s the beginning of something greater. The company plans to set up a related fund for guests who want to help match Maple Leaf Adventures’ contribution each year.
“We and our colleagues in the industry fully support the work Raincoast does and the way they do it,” said Smith. “Each year, more of our guests are discovering the wonders of the BC coast. I expect that many companies will start committing long-term as our industry matures. It’s in our DNA as responsible operators.”
For more information about the project and the benefits between ecotourism and conservation, visit www.MapleLeafAdventures.com [icon icon=”external-link”]
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Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.
We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.
