The President of the Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA) says eco-tourism could offer communities a reliable and more environmentally friendly source of employment than either fish farms or resource extraction. 

“There are some viable alternatives, if they had a fair shake and didn’t get booted out every time a clear cut wanted to go in,” said Breanne Quesnel, who is also one of the co-owners of Spirit of the West Adventures on Quadra Island. “As rural communities, it is very important that we sit down and have discussions about what we want our communities to look like and how we’re going to get there.”