Ecotourism

“To do good, you actually have to do something.” – Yvon Chouinard

Our Vision

We’ve been an ecotourism company since the beginning, in 1986. Our mission is to use our business as a force for good. Many of us grew up on this coast, involved in, or coming of age during, the massive environmental battles of the 1980s and 1990s, and studying the teachings of deep ecology.

During this time, Canadians increasingly made ourselves aware of our country’s history of ignoring and denying the rights, title and identity of Indigenous people here, and the damage this causes; and formed a desire to work with Indigenous nations to fix the damage and transform the relationships between Canada and the nations.

The pressure of these important forces on our coast precipitated the idea of building a conservation-based economy, in which humans, businesses, and the environment operate in symbiosis—creating benefits while restoring and healing each other.

Since business is the foundation of our economy, it means that businesses must help create this change. Businesses have (often rightly) been blamed for the destruction of our homes and of people’s lives. But businesses can instead use that exact power for good.

Regenerative Travel

Our operations and interactions with the human and natural world are informed by the principles of ecotourism.

Low Impact

Our trips have a low impact on the planet. We build no structures and we leave no trace of nature. We respect the carrying capacity of each place—whether it’s an estuary where bears need to focus on eating and safety, a small community we visit, or a rainforest trail.

Local, Coastal Company

We provide skilled, meaningful employment for local people like us who are proud to share our home, and we partner in hyper-local ways, with each community we visit. We supply our ships in local ports and we calculate that trips leave a very large percentage of revenues directly in these communities.

Indigenous Rights & Title

We collaborate with Indigenous guides in their territories, to share their history and knowledge with us and our guests. We have established protocol agreements with coastal First Nations since the early 2000s, outlining our mutual stewardship principles, recognizing traditional territory, and providing an economic commitment to the community.

Authentic Experiences

We believe that it is not enough to merely “see” the coast. We enable our guests to immerse themselves in its beauty, to meet the people who live here in an authentic setting, and to learn as much as they desire about it from local naturalists and conservation partners. Our guests often leave inspired to create positive change in their own way.

Cultural Understanding

Not only do we provide guests with interpreters and visits to cultural sites, but we foster participation in deeper discussions on cultural, political and social topics of importance to the communities we’re engaged with; when possible, we encourage interpreters to teach skills, such as cedar bark weaving and salmon baking, as a medium for deeper cultural connection and understanding.

Conservation & Collaboration

We dedicate time and resources to preserving the natural worlds we travel in and donate a portion of our revenues to conservation organizations. Maple Leaf Adventures co-founded the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC and co-founded the Gwaii Haanas Tour Operators Association.

Respect for Resource Management

We work within the regulations of parks, conservation areas and governments, we pay the applicable fees and obtain permits for all limited-use areas we visit. We communicate with local indigenous partners, and respectfully observe changes to indigenous communities wishes around intended use of an area or limitation of outside visitors to a specific site.

Stewardship

We steward two of Canada’s historic maritime artifacts, the classic schooner Maple Leaf (BC’s oldest tall ship, built in 1904 in Vancouver), and the classic tugboat Swell (one of BC’s oldest, still-working tugboats, built in Vancouver in 1912). We also research and publish the history of these two significant vessels and educate about the history of boating on the coast.

Direct Action

We volunteer the time of our own team for conservation, education and the development of sound ecotourism policies. And at times, we take our own direct action such as our industry’s contribution to the end of the grizzly bear hunt and the creation of an award-winning marine debris clean-up.

Transparency & Benchmarking

Our sustainability efforts are shared in annual reports, board reviews, public newsletters, and through rigorous evaluations by trusted certification bodies. As one of Canada’s first certified green tourism businesses, we proudly work with GreenStep and Adventure Green Alaska to continuously improve and uphold the highest standards in responsible travel.

Our Partners

Some focus on ecotourism industry development, some on conservation, and some are nations where we have established formal protocol agreements.

Advocacy

Lending Nature a Voice

As we and our colleagues develop ecotourism here, we spend time advocating—to make a place for green tourism, to protect ecosystems and wildlife. We work with many stakeholders in this, from government committees to Indigenous nations to conservation organizations.

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Conservation

Travel as a Force for Good

Every trip donates to conservation, benefitting the places we explore; in addition to donations, we also take direct action. For example, during the pandemic, we worked with our colleagues, five First Nations and the BC Clean Coast, Clean Waters fund to create one of the world’s largest marine debris clean-ups.

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