Re: (B.C. Views, July 20).

Tom Fletcher seems to believe protecting salmon is not only bad, but dishonest. He suggests itB次元官网网址檚 an effort to cover up an international plot to kill B.C.B次元官网网址檚 oil and gas opportunities and AlbertaB次元官网网址檚 oilsands.

His column falsely asserts that, along with other groups, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has B次元官网网址減oured money into anti-LNG campaigns in B.C., as they funded opposition to oilsands development before them. Indeed, the record suggests the long project to establish what environmental front groups named the Great Bear Rainforest was a strategy to stop hydrocarbon exports from western Canada, even as U.S. sources ramped up production.B次元官网网址�

The foundationB次元官网网址檚 Wild Salmon Ecosystems Initiative supports groups working to ensure that all factors B次元官网网址� social, environmental and economic B次元官网网址� are fairly respected in development decisions. It does not fund efforts to stop oil and gas development.

Salmon support a huge economy that provides jobs, social and cultural benefits. And, in British Columbia, unlike many other parts of North America, we still have a chance to keep most salmon watersheds intact. This is why the foundation supports the efforts of communities to protect these fish. This means ensuring that scientific evidence is fully addressed in project development, including siting decisions.

We are proud supporters of the Great Bear Rainforest, not because we are B次元官网网址渁ntiB次元官网网址� anything else, but because this is a unique region. Like the Amazon and the Great Barrier Reef, it is recognized by experts around the globe as one of the planetB次元官网网址檚 most important and unique natural wonders.

It is a region that deserved to be protected on its own merits B次元官网网址� a fact so clear that federal, provincial and First Nation governments came together with industry and environmental groups to ensure it would be. To portray this impressive collaboration as an anti-oil and gas does a disservice to the broad array of Canadians and First Nations that prioritized its preservation.

The Moore Foundation supported this as part of our commitment to assist groups that seek to protect wild salmon habitats along the West Coast. People, issues, organizations and funds cross the Canada-U.S. border all the time. There isnB次元官网网址檛 anything unusual about Canadian environmental groups requesting and receiving donations from international foundations that share the same environmental goals.

Ivan Thompson, B.C. Program Officer, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Vancouver