There are over 800 parks, protected areas and ecological reserves in British Columbia covering nearly 13% of the province's land base. In spite of this, large land areas still warrant protection from industrial development along with ecosystems that are insufficiently represented, such as Vancouver Islands Garry Oak meadows. Other threats to our world famous parks system include chronic funding shortages, lack of connectivity between parks, increased commercialization and proposed logging, mining and road construction that have steadily eroded our world class wilderness heritage.

BC Parks - A World Famous Legacy

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.23-No.05 - Summer 2004

Park Hotspots

Lillooet - Bonanaza Creek

The six-year-long Lillooet land use plan recommended that the Bonanza Creek gate way to South Chilcotin Mountains Park be a “no-logging-zone”. Unfortunately Premier Gordon Campbell didn’t agree, and the area was opened to clearcut logging.

Cathedral Grove

Towering Douglas-firs, ancient western redcedars, lush ferns and winding trails make tiny MacMillan Provincial Park, better known as Cathedral Grove, a wonderful and mystical place to visit. Located between Coombs and Port Alberni, the park is readily accessible from Highway 4. This picturesque park offers visitors an exceptional chance to experience one of the last remaining stands of giant Douglas-firs in British Columbia, where towering 800-year-old trees reach heights of over 80 metres.

Just 136 hectares in size, Cathedral Grove is under threat from logging immediately adjacent to its boundaries by the timber giant Weyerhauser. Such logging makes the huge trees in the park vulnerable to blow-down by destroying the wind barrier that is needed to protect the grove. In January 1997, a severe windstorm roared through the park knocking down dozens of huge Douglas-firs. If logging, continues these events will become more frequent, eventually destroying this magnificant park ecosystem. A victim of its own success, popular Cathedral Grove is also threatened by the proposed establishment of a large parking lot. The provincial government plans to locate it in a sensitive floodplain which is a corridor for endangered Roosevelt elk.

For more information on the fight to protect Cathedral Grove please visit www.cathedralgrove.com.

South Chilcotins

Although the provincial Liberal government promised no logging or mining in BC’s parks, this promise is about to be broken. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the stunning South Chilcotin Mountains Park. 75 years in the making the park was formally protected in April 2001 by the outgoing New Democrat provincial government through a government “Order in Council”, which stipulated that the area be protected as a Class “A” provincial park. Located just 150 kilometres north of Whistler the 72,000-hectare park boasts some of the best backcountry hiking in BC. Beautiful wildflower meadows, mountain goats, grizzly bears, big horn sheep, humming birds and crystal clear alpine lakes can be found throughout the park — making it a true ecological and recreational wonder.

But there is trouble in paradise. The mining industry, backed by the powerful industrial giant Teck Cominco, are lobbying for the park’s boundaries to be rolled back — even though no significant ore bodies have been found in the area. Sustained pressure from this influential lobby is pushing the government to shrink the park by up to 20%.

o help save South Chilcotin Mountains Park please visit www.wildernesscommittee.org