Item consists of Rick Searle interviews with Ken Farquharson and David Stirling interviews. Farquharson speaks about his involvement with BC Parks and protected areas from the 1960s, including work with the Save Cypress Bowl committee, the Run Out Skagit Spoilers (ROSS) committee, the Sierra Club of BC, the Forest Land Use Liasion Committee, the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC and the Wilderness Advisory Committee under the Bill Bennett government.
Farquharson recounts memorable times spent in various parks and lists some of his major accomplishments, such as his perseverance in Skagit Valley; his work with the Wilderness Advisory Committee, Khutzeymateen and Tatshenshini; and the establishment of the Wilderness Act. Farquharson goes on to talk about his biggest challenges, namely natural resource industries’ interests and aboriginal interests. If he could do things differently, Farquharson says that he would revisit his work in Cypress Bowl. He speaks about lessons learned, including need for persistence in creation/designation, as well as his hopes for the future through funding, park management, advocacy and a stronger public constituency. Farquharson lists Bert Brink as a mentor, and counts milestones such as major expansion in the 1970s and grass roots movements. He ends his interview by touching on issues around resorts in parks.
Camera shots show Ken Farquharson outside on a patio with a plant in the background. Sometimes see interviewer.
In part 1 of his interview with Searle, Stirling speaks about his employment with BC Parks (ca. 1959-1980) and his interview focuses on his work with the park naturalist and interpretation programs. He lists his most memorable experiences as working with park naturalists and representing parks at the BC Nature Federation. Stirling goes on to recount his major accomplishments and he speaks of the challenges that grew out of working with BC Parks workers with different ideas about the importance of nature interpretation in the system. Stirling talks about how he met those challenges and the lessons he learned about cooperation at the branch and ministry levels. In terms of future hopes, Stirling discusses how he would like to see interpretation program come back to BC Parks; how he would like to see parks kept as natural as possible; how he would like to see more and all benefits government could realize from this investment. [Interview continues on Disk 2, Track 4]
Camera shots show David Stirling outside with shrubs in the background.