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 Fees

It’s hard to explain to younger British Columbians why they must pay to use parks that their parents visited for free.

User Fees

On May 15, 2003 the provincial government did something that has never been done before in British Columbia – they introduced user fees to 28 provincial parks on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. For people wishing to visit these popular provincial parks to hike in the woods, canoe, watch a wild salmon run or have a picnic lunch with their children, they would now need to bring their wallets along and pay between $3 – $5 for the privilege. Since 1911 when BC’s first provincial park was created, people from all walks of life have been able to visit BC’s public parks free of charge.

Despite the fact that BC parks are enormous revenue generators and have been paid for many times over through taxpayers dollars, the provincial government has continued with a mandate of incremental privatization, ignored public opinion and forged ahead with the decision to institute the much hated parking fees. Although deeply unpopular with the public, earlier this year the BC Liberals quietly expanded user fees to an additional 13 provincial parks — bringing the total to 41 parks(7).