Interview with Ian McTaggart-Cowan

Part of a collection of video oral history interviews with park pioneers, as well as some events, created by EKOS Communications in partnership with the Elders Council for Parks of British Columbia to commemorate the 100th anniversary of BC Parks in 2011. The Elders Council is an independent society, whose members are retired parks system employees and conservation advocates who have dedicated a significant portion of their lives to parks and protected areas in BC. These interviews served as source material for the documentary BC Parks: Celebrating 100 Years of Recreation and Protection. Standard questions were used in most of the interviews and included dates of employment/association with BC Parks, parks worked in, greatest challenges, accomplishments and regrets, lessons learned, hopes for provincial park system today and mentors.Part of Elders’ Council for Parks in British Columbia oral history interview series, collected for the documentary "BC Parks: Celebrating 100 Years of Recreation and Protection". Rick Searle inteview with Ian McTaggart-Cowan. Opens with McTaggart-Cowan speaking about the Rockies and the birds/sounds of the uplands. He speaks about his background in biology and naturalism, including reminiscences of childhood, family, education and books from his youth. McTaggart-Cowan discusses his education at UBC and Berkely, his work in the BC provincial museum in 1930s and his field work in provincial parks, starting in Ootsa Lake in Tweedsmuir Park. He talks about the differences between harvesting and culturing forest management, public opinion and being an advisor to parks. Camera shots show McTaggart-Cowan with bookcase in background.

In Collection:

• Elders Council for Parks in British Columbia

Creator

• EKOS Communications, Inc.
• Elders Council for Parks in British Columbia

Contributor

• Searle, D. Richard (Donald Richard), 1951-

Subject

• McTaggart-Cowan, Ian, 1910-2010
• Conservation of natural resources--Societies, etc.
• Conservation of natural resources
• Wildlife conservation
• Nature conservation
• Nature conservation--Societies, etc.
• Wilderness areas
• Biodiversity conservation
• Natural areas
• Parks--Conservation and restoration
• Parks
• National parks and reserves
• National parks and reserves--Management
• Parks--Employees
• Parks--Employees--Attitudes
• Parks--Management
• BC Parks
• Oral histories

Language

• eng

Date created

• 2006

Resource type

• Moving Image

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Extent

• 00:52:31

Alternative title

• Ian McTaggart-Cowan interview

Geographic Coverage

• British Columbia--Tweedsmuir Provincial Park
• British Columbia--Ootsa Lake

Coordinates

• 53.77972, -126.13667
• 53.09976, -125.88649

Physical Repository

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Collection

• Elders Council for Parks in British Columbia

Provenance

• Donated to the University of Victoria Archives on October 20, 2008 by Rick Searle (EKOS Communications).

Provider

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Genre

• reminiscences
• oral histories (literary genre)
• video recordings (physical artifacts)

Archival item identifier

• Accession Number: 2011-006

Fonds title

• Elders Council for Parks in British Columbia / EKOS Communications video history collection

Fonds identifier

• AR447

Is referenced by

• Archival Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/elders-council-for-parks-in-british-columbia-ekos-communications-video-history-collection

Date digitized

• 2011

Technical note

• Migration metadata from UVicSpace to Vault by KD, Summer 2024.

Rights

• This item is under copyright and made available on this site for research and private study only. Commercial use is prohibited. For all other uses please contact UVic Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives.

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.58066/hyts-g910