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Gwen Barlee, a defender of wild animals and advocate for enhanced endangered species legislation in British Columbia, has died.

The Wilderness Committee, where Barlee worked, said she died Thursday. She was 54.

Barlee was national policy director at the Wilderness Committee since 2001 and the organization said in a statement she was an invaluable member of the leadership team, guiding many environmental campaigns.

Joe Foy, Wilderness Committee national campaign director, said her colleagues were aware Barlee was fighting cancer, but her death still came as a shock.

"It's like a gut punch," said Foy from the Wilderness Committee's Vancouver office, where Barlee was based. "Those of us who knew she was sick, we did not expect this."

He said Barlee was instrumental in convincing the B.C. government to protect forest lands to preserve the habitat of the northern spotted owl, one of Canada's most endangered species.

Barlee lobbied for greater amounts of protected forest habitat, not just for the spotted owl but for other species at risk including B.C.'s southern mountain caribou, marbled murrelet and goshawk, said Foy.