The Wilson 5 Foundation—led by Chip Wilson, founder of the Canada-based athletic apparel company Lululemon—has announced a C$100 million ($75.3 million) commitment to the BC Parks Foundation to support environmental preservation and habitat conservation efforts in British Columbia.

The largest private donation in Canadian conservation history was announced as part of the BC Parks Foundation’s launch of 25x25, a campaign to protect 25 percent of British Columbia’s land and waters by 2025 in partnership with the region’s Indigenous people. Initially, the funds will support programs in three ecosystems: the Falling Creek Sanctuary, an important old-growth forest that is a winter habitat for moose, caribou, and deer and is threatened by industrial gravel extraction operations; Teit’s Sanctuary, a grassland habitat for bighorn sheep that have faced steep declines in population due to disease from domestic sheep and habitat loss; and Bourguiba Springs, British Columbia’s hottest and driest region and the habitat for several federally listed species at risk. In 2021, the Wilson 5 Foundation made a $4 million gift to BC Parks Foundation to protect the old-growth Douglas fir ecosystem on coastal islands in the Salish Sea between Victoria, British Columbia, and Seattle, Washington.

“British Columbians love our incredible parks and have worked together to make great things happen in the last few years,” said BC Parks Foundation board chair Ross Beaty. “The Wilsons’ landmark donation is an incredible show of support and boost for the protection and enjoyment of nature in BC.”

“We have the largest intact temperate rainforests in the world, and some of the richest biodiversity in the world's temperate zone,” said BC Parks Foundation CEO Andy Day. “From the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the height of the Rocky Mountains, BC has it all. But we can’t take it for granted. We have to protect it now, so we can enjoy it forever.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Oleg Charykov)