Rupert Merer provided Backcountry BC with his excellent report of BC Parks Spending from the Late 1980's.   Some of the most noteable trends are BC Park's heavy shift away from staff to constractors with their capital expenditures. Most important is a dramatic shift of funding priorities away from backcountry facilities to front country facilities.View Rupert's full report at the link below: BC Parks Spending from the Late 1980s  

Christy Clark's Future Strategy for BC Parks is John Horgan's today BC Parks' Future Strategy has Christy Clark written all over it. I recently received an email from Jim Standen, the assistant deputy minister for BC Parks in which it confirms the BC Liberal direction for BC Parks established in November 2016 continues as government policy of the present NDP government.In a nutshell, there are four goals: (1) conservation, (2) recreation, (3) public partnerships, (4) recognizing...

On Dispersal - Too little, too late, too little political will? With Covid closures and wide-spread access problems in the Sea to Sky region (S2S), I am faced with the reality that the Watersprite Lake Trail is one of the very few open alpine hiking trails and destinations between Horseshoe Bay and Whistler. I and a couple others lobbied hard to allow the construction of the Watersprite Lake Trail and worked hard to build it to accommodate the over 5000 plus hikers who now annually hike it;...

Update The BC Parks Enhancement Fund this year will direct half of the $240,000 of its Parks Enhancement Fund Grants to recreation initiatives, and the other to conservation initiatives. Backcountry BC exposed a heavy conservation bias in how BC Parks spends all of the money raised through the BC Parks License Plate program, which is also administered through the BC Parks Enhancement Fund. https://backcountrybc.ca/.../393-projects-funded-by-the... This raises new...

The expression of interest is here: https://backcountrybc.ca/document-category-layout/zincton-resort-proposal-may-2020/viewdocument Concerns around this proposal are from a backcountry access point of view. The resort proposal is stated to be an all-season resort. This would come under the All Seasons Resort Policy of the province which is administered by Mountain Resorts Branch. The proponent is asking for a "controlled recreation area" or CRA. The concern is that public access is...

Removal of a bridge over Roe Creek at 6km Likely this summer, deactivation of Roe Creek FSR, including removal of a bridge over Roe Creek at 6km will alter summer access to Brew Hut. A snowmobile company has tenure on the road. As unlikely as it sounds, they are opting for a snow bridge to provide for winter access.  

Grizzly bear management misstep at Whistler—The initial grizzly bear risk assessment and conflict management strategy left "big, unanswered questions"—RMOW goes back to the drawing board following review—Ban on e-bikes on alpine trails and more... Reference:  https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler-news/resort-municipality-of-whistler-goes-back-to-drawing-board-on-grizzly-management-2510261

Lions Trail access during COVID-19Parks and parking lots continue to remain closed in an effort to keep a lid on visitation from external communities.Beaches (provincial jurisdiction, as opposed to municipal parks), are open, along with all trails in and above Lions Bay (multi-jurisdictional).If you want to access the beach, please move through the park swiftly.—Update on Parking and Bylaw Enforcement, Peter DeJong, Chief Administration Officer, Village of Lions BayThe bylaw update said that...

BC residents are "local" when it comes to the park system—provincial officialsA provincial official informed me today that BC residents can now travel to any provincial park designated as "open" by BC Parks. For example, a Vancouverite may travel to Wells Gray Provincial Park as it opened May 14th.

Year by year summary tables showing the projects awarded funding by the Park Enhancement Fund. The funding comes from the BC Parks Licence Plate Program. At the request of Backcountry BC, the BC Parks Enhancement Fund supplied us with the list projects funded by the BC Parks License Plate Program. Backcountry BC pointed out in 2020 that virtually all funding went to conservation or indigenous recreation projects. Yet, recreation is one of the pillars of BC Parks' mandate. Recreation projects...

Management of Trails on Crown LandThe Federation of Mountain Clubs summarizes how trails on Crown land are administered in British Columbia.  "Management of Trails on Crown Land Forest and Range Practices ActThe Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA) and its regulations govern the activities of forest and range licensees in BC. FRPA came into effect in 2004. Sections 56 to 58 of FRPA deal with recreation and are administered by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and...

BC Parks Advisory Council This council came to existence out of the BC Parks Future Strategy in 2016. Does it exist? Who sits on it? What did it recommend? Can't seem to answer those questions by searching on Google. A Parks Advisory Committee will serve to provide the Minister of Environment with the opportunity to engage knowledgeable stakeholders on the BC Parks Future Strategy, both in terms of defining its goals and successes, and building a path to achieve them. As part of its mandate,...

The Four Pillars of the BC Parks Future Strategy Replacing the two pillars of conservation and recreation in the historical Striking the Balance policy.

Public safety lacking on Hollyburn backcountry routeThe map shows the public winter route to Hollyburn summit. Used by backcountry skiers, snowshoers, hikers and dogs the route's popularity puts people at risk of injury. Add in the COVID-19 recommendation for physical separation and there is simply not enough room at the bottlenecks to meet provincial guidelines meant to prevent viral transmission.It used to be manageable to ski down the route without concern. That's long ago. Snowshoeing took...

Explorers of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park—trails, routes, trip reports, beta and discussion. For trip beta and discussion visit or join the Facebook group: Pinecone Burke Explorers We invite people to submit their own trip reports within or near to Pinecone Burke Provincial Park. The idea is to provide information that will help people plan trips to the park in a sustainable manner and respecting the park values and regulations.

Striking the Balance now a historical park policy documentStriking the Balance is a historical policy document that previously guided BC Parks’ management planning processes. The policies outlined within have been updated with new strategic direction. This new direction is detailed in updated strategies like the BC Parks Future Strategy; updated policies like the BC Parks Conservation Policy; and updated ministry corporate and program plans. Other updated documents that guide management...

On Advocacy and Conscience It has been a while since I wrote a general article about Advocacy. I was reflecting upon the ethics surrounding advocacy situations where the issue is of high stakes and/or high profile, and the corporate or governmental body is in fundamental opposition to the values and objectives the advocate or the advocate's organization believes in. Firstly, I don't believe that the ends justifies the means. And while there are situations where the position taken by the...

Coquitlam to Squamish hiking trailI uploaded the 1994 final report of the Pinecone Lake-Burke Mountain study team to the link below. See page 45 and 46 for the discussion of the trail and mountain climbing and other activities.The Coquitlam-Squamish trail would utilize the Boise and Fools Gold trails constructed by the Wilderness Committee in the 1990s by German tourists. I spoke with Joe Foy this week. He is personally in favour of the trails being restored and maintained.Report of the...

Ungulate winter range on Brohm Ridge as shown overlapping the project boundaries for both the wilderness lodge and GaS. The article in Squamish Chief newspaper quotes one developer saying he hired a "registered professional biologist" to confirm the wilderness lodge is outside the ungulate winter range. The data set I used for the map to establish the lodge is inside the UWR comes from the provincial government. Those files are online here:...

Access to Crown land in B.C.I found this article while researching a comment made by a member that people do not have the right to access Crown land. Access to Crown land is not a right but it is enabled by policy. The policy is clearly stated on a provincial web site. In a nutshell, transitory activities such as hiking and skiing are permitted. Reference:...

Public comments are being accepted until June 3rd, 2020 for Seair Seaplanes Ltd.'s commercial recreation adventure tourism application at Phantom Lake. Comment using link below. APPLICATION DETAILS The subject application is for authorization of irregular use of 0.4 ha of Phantom Lake for low impact commercial recreation purposes (sightseeing, small hikes, picnicking). The operator intends to fly customers to Phantom Lake as an alternative to other, more popular destinations...

Some of the most endangered forests and ecosystems in British Columbia can be found close to home. A new Forest Mapping project aims to protect the Gulf Island's vulnerable ecosystems. The Gulf Islands are ecologically unique in Canada and have experienced rampant land conversion (by some estimates up to 50%). With the additional serious problem of invasive species such as Scotch Broom, the natural forests and species of the Gulf Islands are extremely vulnerable and threatened. The Gulf...

Chilliwack seems to be developing quite the reputation as of late by a few bad apples. Recent Vedder Mountain Destruction, and over at Chilliwack Lake, the burning down of the campsite office (the latter rumour has it occurred because a few campers got kicked out and fined by patrol). When the knuckle draggers and mouth breathers come out, they have a tendency to wreck things for everyone else. Contrary to the popular belief of some knuckle-draggers, toppled outhouses and...

The Provincial Government just launched a new website and released the latest public survey results for the Shannon Basin. I am personally pleased to see this increase in transparency and publicly available documentation by our government. https://landuseplanning.gov.bc.ca/p/5e584daf09c98e001ab8dabb/documents;currentPage=1;pageSize=10;sortBy=-datePosted;ms=1586466179433 Sea to Sky Visitor Use Management The B.C. government, in partnership with Squamish and Líl̓wat Nations, is...

Sarah Bulford This should be entertaining to watch unfold. Being as BC Parks doesn't staff enough Rangers in the summer to patrol all parks. And this time of year, all auxillary staff are on lay off. Article: "VANCOUVER -- All of B.C.'s provincial parks have been closed as officials continue to take action to stop the spread of COVID-19. The province announced the immediate closure on Wednesday, saying it's in response to "federal and provincial directives" asking people to stay...