People love BC's parks because they help protect what makes our province such a special place to live and visit. Wild rivers, old-growth forests, alpine meadows, mountain vistas, rolling grasslands and salmon streams are just some of the natural treasures to be found in parks across the province.

BC Parks -A World Famous Legacy- Update 2006

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.25 - No.05, Summer 2006

Tatchenshini-Alsek Provincial Park

Park Facts

* More than 50% of people living in BC visit a provincial park every year.
* Over 80% of British Columbians believe that preservation of the natural environment is one of the most important benefits of provincial parks.

Who Said It?

Areas set aside today as part of the protected areas system form the legacy and natural endowment that we leave to our children and to future generations. Completing and securing this system goes beyond the here and now – the responsibility is global and intergenerational . . . As wilderness becomes increasingly scarce, protected areas will also provide a blueprint for standards of environmental quality everywhere.

Answer:
BC Government, Park Legacy Panel
Sustaining our Protected Areas System
Final Report — February 1999
















The Vision

Since the creation of BC’s first park in 1911, British Columbians have rallied to create hundreds of parks, large and small, across the province.

Whether it is swimming at Alouette Lake in Golden Ears, canoeing at Wells Gray or bird watching at Vaseux Lake in the Okanagan, our provincial parks are the proud result of communities that banded together to protect special places from development. With proper care and wise planning our children and grandchildren will be able to experience the natural wonders and simple pleasures that are part of our protected areas system today. With proper care and planning parks will continue to act as reservoirs of biodiversity and provide intact habitat for BC’s wildlife and plants. However, just as the creation of parks required vision, foresight and a pioneering spirit, so too does the maintenance and care of BC’s existing parks. A vision for BC’s parks includes:

Cessna Bridge

Public Recreation

Parks must continue to provide for recreational opportunities for a variety of park users. However, these opportunities must be respectful of the land and leave a light footprint. Use of the land that would result in damage to parks must not be allowed in protected areas. Parks must remain accessible to the public, regardless of income.

Boise big cedar

Nature Protection

The vast majority of British Columbians believe that the most important purpose of parks is for the preservation and protection of the natural environment. As such, governments must ensure that parks are properly funded and managed to protect these important environmental features and to ensure the ecological integrity of parks. To ensure that parks are properly managed our protected areas must never be privatized or commercialized. The BC government, acting on our behalf, has a responsibility to manage these natural landscapes as a public trust, both for British Columbians – and for the world.

Three children

Future Generations

As wilderness becomes scarcer in the future, parks must be managed to protect this environmental legacy. To ensure our protected areas remain healthy, parks must be held as a public trust and as an inalienable public good; this will allow for the continued appreciation and public understanding of a natural environment. Keeping in mind that parks are a public good, any changes that impact the ecological integrity of parks must be done in an open, transparent, and public manner.