British Columbia Plans to Commercialize Provincial Parks

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, February 21, 2006 (ENS) - For the first time, the British Columbia government is planning to allow commercial resorts to be developed in provincial parks, according to confidential government documents released to the Western Canada Wilderness Committee under Freedom of Information legislation.

The documents show that the BC government is preparing to expand commercial development in provincial parks under its Park Lodge Strategy initiative, closely tied to the government’s Resort Strategy, which aims to remove barriers to resort development across the province.

"The extent of private development being considered for our parks is astounding," said Gwen Barlee, policy director with the Wilderness Committee. "The documents refer to road construction, 100 bed lodges, helicopter and float plane traffic, staff housing and exclusive lodge opportunities. These are not mom and pop operations that we are talking about."

The Liberal government under Premier Gordon Campbell has to date refused to release additional information relating to the province’s marketing strategy.

"What is truly amazing," said Barlee, "is the fact that although these are public parks there has been no public consultation."

Duffey Lake Provincial Park is one of the parks the British Columbia government is considering for commercial development. (Photo courtesy Olav Slaymaker)

According to the government documents, 12 to 18 provincial parks are being considered for development.

They include Duffey Lake Provincial Park 35 kilometers east of Pemberton in the Coast Mountains region. In this park, the alpine area below Mount Rohr is considered of high ecological significance with its sheltered valley topography, alpine and sub-alpine vegetation, and the large alpine finger lake. The slopes on the north side of Duffey Lake have high habitat values for black bears and grizzly bears as well as deer and mountain goats.

The Duffey Lake area is an important hunting, trapping and gathering area for First Nations people. The park lies within the traditional territories of the N'Quatqua First Nation, the Mt. Currie Indian Band and the Cayoose Creek Band. The N'Quatqua First Nation is involved in treaty negotiations over traditional lands which include the park.

Development is also being considered for Stevens Lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park in southeastern British Columbia between Kamloops and Jasper, Alberta. In the government documents under Stevens Lake there is reference to a "high-end" lodge.

Today Wells Gray Park is not developed but for a few quiet campgrounds and a 34 kilometer road that runs from the park entrance to Clearwater Lake. Most of Wells Gray Park's 530,000 hectares is remote wilderness accessible only by foot or canoe. Guiding businesses offer horseback riding, canoeing, river-rafting, fishing and hiking.

Another park on the list for development is Golden Ears Provincial Park, located about 35 miles east of Vancouver. The government documents say an "80 bed four-season resort" is under consideration for Golden Ears.

An extensive system of trails opens Golden Ears park for hiking and horseback riding in the the coastal western hemlock forest. Alouette Lake is a popular spot for swimming, windsurfing, water-skiing, canoeing, boating and fishing. The park has three large campgrounds. Currently, during the summer season this park has a concession managed by a park facility operator.

Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park (Photo courtesy Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows)

Of special concern to the government are park management plans, typically created with years of public input, which will likely need to be revisited to accommodate developers’ interests.

What the BC government has said publicly is that it intends to attract more tourists from Asia to British Columbia. In the government's current legislative plan expressed February 14 in the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the current legislative session, Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo said, "Your government will work closely with B.C.’s tourism associations to help British Columbia become the destination of choice for Asian tourists, as China opens its doors to foreign travel. We have incredible competitive advantages in cultural tourism, eco-tourism, agri-tourism, resort tourism, and Aboriginal tourism to capture the world’s attention."

The management of BC parks has been a hot potato for the Campbell government. A series of unpopular measures have been introduced over the last five years including commercial logging within park boundaries, installing parking meters in 41 popular parks, weakening the Parks Act, changing park boundaries to allow for industrial development, cutting the operating budget for parks and axing government-funded park interpretive programs.

Since 2001, visits to BC parks have dropped by 20 percent.

"Parks were created to provide an environmental legacy for our children," said Barlee. "What we are seeing today is a slow-motion dismantling of our protected area system. At the rate we are going, in 20 years we won’t have anything left to protect."