Valhalla Wilderness Society (VWS) was founded in 1975, in New Denver, British Columbia; it achieved park status for what is now Valhalla Provincial Park in 1983. VWS went on to successfully spearhead campaigns for the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary, Goat Range Provincial Park, and the Spirit Bear Conservancies on Princess Royal Island. VWS also played one of the key roles in the protection of South Moresby National Park Reserve (Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve on Haida Gwaii). Its Endangered Wilderness Map of 1988 helped to spark the movement to double BC’s park system to 12% of the province. Valhalla has led park campaigns for over 560,000 hectares of now protected land.

Born in New Denver, British Columbia in 1949, Colleen McCrory founded the Valhalla Wilderness Society in 1975 and co-founded the National Save South Moresby Committee in 1983. McCrory worked as an organizer of the BC Environmental Network, the Taiga Rescue Network (1992), and the Boreal Forest Network. She was leader of Canada's Future Forest Alliance (founded 1990), a network of organizations and individuals interested in reforming forest policy and practice, and campaigned against the Jumbo Glacier Resort in the West Kootenays. McCrory is credited with coining the phrase "Brazil of the North". She played a significant role in the 2006 establishment of the Kitasoo Spirit Bear Conservancy and held key roles in saving more than one million acres of B.C. forests from logging. Her many honours and awards include the Goldman Environmental Prize (1992), the United Nation's Environment Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honor Award (1992), the IUCN-World Conservation Union's Fred M. Pakard International Parks Merit Award (1988), Equinox Citation Award (1990) and the Governor General of Canada's Conservation Award (1983). In 2001, McCrory ran provincially for the Green Party in the riding of Nelson-Creston. She passed away in New Denver in 2007.