And the changes continue. In the Lower Mainland, on eastern Vancouver Island and in the Okanagan Valley, urban and suburban sprawl is today consuming both agricultural areas and the remnant natural ecosystems. In British Columbia as a whole, almost 600,000 hectares have been developed for urban and rural settlement and for transportation. The remaining farmland is also being more intensively worked – edge habitats are being converted into agricultural land with little or no regard for their value as wildlife habitat, and fertilizers (which result in rampant growth of algae in water habitats) and pesticides are being used to increase production.

The problem of habitat loss is accentuated by the fact that most of the plant and animal species we share the province with also prefer or even require the disappearing natural ecosystems of British Columbia's valleys, which are benign, rich places, and where most urban development occurs. Fully half of the animal species on the provincial Red List – those that may be threatened or endangered – are confined to low elevations in or near cities and towns.