Rosemary Fox Announced as Recipient of the Fourth annual Wild Earth Award

Rosemary Fox's interest in wildlife and wild places dates back to her childhood in the Himalayas, and to family holidays spent in the Himalayan foothills. Her childhood interest in bird watching, butterfly collecting and animals in general evolved into an interest in conservation as an adult. She did not have an opportunity to become actively involved in conservation until she and her husband Irving moved to British Columbia in 1971, shortly after which she joined the Federation of BC Naturalists and the Sierra Club.

Rosemary's first involvement in a conservation campaign began in 1975, after hearing Vladimir Krajina speak about how hunting interests were obstructing the creation of an ecological reserve for caribou encompassing the Spatsizi Plateau. Working on behalf of the Sierra Club she began questioning the Wildlife Branch about the status of wildlife in the area. Her work resulted in a guide-outfitter in the area being charged on several counts under the Wildlife Act and led to an inquiry of the entire Wildlife Branch. The public attention drawn to the area by the process meant that Spatsizi was declared a park. Over subsequent years Rosemary lobbied to have special management buffer zones established around the park to encompass key wildlife habitat.

There can be no doubt that protecting the Spatsizi was only the start of Rosemary's contribution to British Columbia. Since that time she has gone on to participate in the campaign to stop the proposed dams in the Stikine and Iskut Canyons, to work to protect the Stikine River, to be involved in land use planning, and to play an active role in opposing indiscriminate wolf control programs. In the early 1990s she became involved in the campaign to halt a proposed mine in the Tatshenshini watershed. Rosemary played a vital role, reviewing the ill-conceived mining plan to remove the top from a remote peak, releasing toxic heavy metal poisons into the life-bearing waters of the Tatshenshini and Alsek Rivers. The seven year Tatshenshini campaign was successful, and Rosemary's work on it led to an ongoing involvement in mining issues. Over the past decade she has been involved in the review and follow up of seven other mines in northwest and northcentral BC. Additionally, she has been the Sierra Club's representative on the Environmental Mining Council since the position was created.

In addition to frontline conservation work, Rosemary had dedicated much of her life to working within conservation organizations. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club Lower Mainland Group from 1974 to 1983 and Chair of the Group and newsletter editor from 1976-79. She was also on the local Sierra Club Chapter Board on and off from the late 70's to 1996. She was a Director of the Canadian Nature Federation for two six-year terms, from 1979-85, and 1986-92. She was a founding member of the Friends of the Stikine, and was its second president. She remained active in FOS until moving to Smithers in 1983. Currently, Rosemary is a director for conservation of the Bulkley Valley Naturalists Club and regional vice-president of the Federation of BC Naturalists.

Rosemary has been the recipient of two other conservation awards. In 1991 she received the Sierra Club's Outstanding Achievement Award in San Francisco, and in 1993 the Canadian Nature Federation's Pimlott Award - its most prestigious conservation award.

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