BC Parks is an agency of the

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy that manages all of the, as of 2020, 1,035

provincial parks file:Ischigualasto national park.jpg, Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countr ...

and other conservation and historical properties of various title designations within the province's Parks oversaw of the British Columbia Parks and Protected Areas System. The

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

-in-

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

created the agency on March 1, 1911, through the Strathcona Park Act. The agency is charged with a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management, while also making them available and accessible for public use and enjoyment.

History

In July 1910, a party of the British Columbia Provincial Government Expedition led by the Chief Commissioner of Lands

Price Ellison Price Ellison (October 6, 1852 – December 10, 1932) was an English-born blacksmith, farmer, rancher and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Yale-East from 1898 to 1903 and Okanagan from 1903 to 1916 as a Conservative in the ...

explored the region surrounding Crown Mountain on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

for the purposes of setting aside land to establish British Columbia's first

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to the ...

. Ellison then reported his findings to the Executive Council of British Columbia. On March 1, 1911, the executive council passed the Strathcona Park Act, which protected approximately of mountainous terrain from being sold, settled or otherwise occupied. While the Park Act was intended to protect the land from being exploited, it exempted both mining claims and timber holdings had been granted prior to the establishment of the park from being voided. This statute was further clarified through an amendment made in 1918 that explicitly permitted the "location, acquisition and occupation of mineral claims under the Mineral Act." The popularity of

Glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

and

Yoho National Park Yoho National Park ( ) is a National Parks of Canada, national park of Canada. It is located within the Canadian Rockies, Rocky Mountains along the western slope of the Continental Divide of the Americas in southeastern British Columbia, bordered ...

, both established by the federal government as

national parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

in 1886, and of

municipal park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

s like

Beacon Hill Park Beacon Hill Park is a 75 ha (200 acre) park located along the shore of Juan de Fuca Strait in Victoria, British Columbia. The park is popular both with tourists and locals, and contains a number of amenities including woodland and shoreline trail ...

(established 1882) and

Stanley Park Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and ...

(established 1888), led the government of

Richard McBride Sir Richard McBride, (December 15, 1870 – August 6, 1917) was a British Columbia politician and is often considered the founder of the British Columbia Conservative Party. McBride was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 1898 ...

to adopt the ''Provincial Parks Act'' of 1908. The act enabled the provincial government, through the Department of Lands to reserve public lands for the establishment of future parks. After the federal government's interest in establishing national park on

became known, the government of McBride amended the ''Provincial Parks Act'' to allow the creation of provincial parks by an

Order in Council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' Ki ...

, rather than an act of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. And on March 1, 1911, the government of McBride adopted the ''Strathcona Park Act, which established a park reserve in the centre of the island named

Strathcona Provincial Park Strathcona Provincial Park is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, and the largest on Vancouver Island. Founded in 1911, the park was named for Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, a wealthy philanthropi ...

. This success encouraged the McBride government to establish a second park reserve,

Mount Robson Provincial Park Mount Robson Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian Rockies with an area of 2,249 km². The park is located entirely within British Columbia, bordering Jasper National Park in Alberta. The B.C. legislature created the park in 19 ...

, in 1913. Following the creation of two more national parks, Mount Revelstoke in 1914 and

Kootenay Kootenay, Kootenai, and Kutenai may refer to: Ethnic groups *The Kutenai, also known as the Ktunaxa, Kootenai, or Kootenay, an indigenous people of the United States and Canada **Kutenai language, the traditional language of the Kutenai **Ktunaxa ...

in 1920, the government of

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

established John Dean Park from a private land donation in 1921. This was followed by the establishment of two mountaintop parks, Kokanee Glacier and

Mount Assiniboine Mount Assiniboine, also known as Assiniboine Mountain, is a pyramidal peak mountain located on the Great Divide, on the British Columbia/Alberta border in Canada. At , it is the highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Ro ...

, with the support of the

Alpine Club of Canada The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler ...

in 1922. These early parks were established for recreational purposes, with the larger ones were intended to be developed as major tourist destinations. Their creation did not terminate any existing forestry or mining rights. In 1924, the provincial government amended the ''Provincial Parks Act'' to allow for the reduction in area of established parks, and also to acquire land for parks through land or timber exchanges. Another amendment in 1927 allowed for the rising of water levels within parks. In addition to several small, local use parks established throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the government of Duff Pattullo created four large parks. Both the

Tweedsmuir Tweedsmuir ( gd, Sliabh Thuaidh) is a village and civil parish in Tweeddale, the Scottish Borders Council district, southeastern Scotland. Geography The village is set in a valley, with the rolling hills and burns on both sides, covering some ...

and

Hamber Provincial Park Hamber Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located 130 kilometres (80.7 mi) north of Golden. Straddling the Great Divide on the provincial boundary with Alberta, the park is surrounded on three sides by Jasper ...

s were over one million hectares when created in 1938 and 1941, respectively, the

Wells Gray Provincial Park Wells Gray Provincial Park is a large wilderness park located in east-central British Columbia, Canada. The park protects most of the southern, and highest, regions of the Cariboo Mountains and covers 5,250 square kilometres (524,990 hectares or ...

was established in 1939 at over 470,000 hectares, and the E. C. Manning Provincial Park was created from a wildlife reserve in 1941. The Liard River Provincial Park was a short-lived 730,000 hectare protected area, established in 1944 and cancelled in 1949, though its central feature was included in the 1957, 1,082 hectare

Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the second largest natural hot springs in Canada, after Deer River Hot Springs 15 km to the north east. It is a natural river of hot water rat ...

Social Credit administration (1952-1972)

The

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

government of

W. A. C. Bennett William Andrew Cecil Bennett (September 6, 1900 – February 23, 1979) was a Canadians, Canadian politician. He was the 25th premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-s ...

(1952-1972) created hundreds of small parks but reduced the overall size of the park system from 3.6 to 2.9 million hectares to accommodate resource development. While these parks continued the recreational focus of the park system, including the first heritage park with the Barkerville Provincial Park and the first marine parks that have areas for moorage, the new 1965 ''Park Act'' inserted conservation as a park objective for the first time and the 1971 ''Ecological Reserves Act'', the result of its participation in the International Biological Program, saw protected areas created solely for the purpose of scientific research and educational purposes.

NDP administration (1972-1975)

As the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

government of

Dave Barrett David Barrett (October 2, 1930 – February 2, 2018) was a politician and social worker in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 26th premier of British Columbia from 1972 to 1975. Early life and career Barrett was born in Vancouver, Britis ...

(1972-1975) formed, awareness of

environmental issues Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

in the province had been rising for several years and the new government placed an emphasis on land management and preservation. It benefited from the Accelerated Park Development Fund, created in Bennett's last year in power, and a long list of potential parks of mostly mid to large sizes that were not approved by the previous government for various reasons. In its four years, the NDP government had brought the size of the park system up to 4.5 million hectares.

Social Credit administration (1976-1991)

The next Social Credit governments (1976-1991) returned its focus to small recreation-oriented parks and sought cost-savings through partnerships, though they continued creating ecological reserves and reconciled outstanding mineral and forestry tenures in existing parks. Private service delivery of park services began in the early-1980s, mostly notably in the area of ski hills as private developments within parks, such as

Cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

and Seymour, or promoting private developments just outside of parks, like Blackcomb and

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...

. Likewise seeking a partnership saving costs, the government agreed to move parks and reserves on

Moresby Island Moresby Island ( hai, Gwaii Haanas) is a large island () that forms part of the Haida Gwaii archipelago (formerly known as Queen Charlotte Islands) in British Columbia, Canada, located at . It is separated by the narrow Skidegate Channel from ...

into the national park system to create the Gwaii Haanas National Park. Also, during this timeframe the first inland marine park was created with the Shuswap Lake Marine Park and numerous parks (such as Monkman, Sukunka Falls, Gwillim Lake and East Pine) were created to support the government priority of building

Tumbler Ridge Tumbler Ridge is a district municipality in the foothills of the B.C. Rockies in northeastern British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Peace River Regional District. With a population of 2,399 (2021) living in a townsite, the ...

NDP administration (1991-2001)

Park creation under the next New Democratic Party government (1991-2001) was guided by the federal government's acceptance of the

Brundtland Commission The Brundtland Commission, formerly the World Commission on Environment and Development, was a sub-organization of the United Nations (UN) that aimed to unite countries in pursuit of sustainable development. It was founded in 1983 when Javier Pér ...

's recommendation of preserving 12% of the country in its natural state. To achieve the 12% target, a provincial protected area strategy and regional land use planning was initiated to identify areas and means for resource extraction and for protection. With the addition of suitable areas identified through the resource planning process and numerous very large parks, such as

Tatshenshini-Alsek Tatshenshini-Alsek Park or Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Wilderness Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada . It was established in 1993 after an intensive campaign by Canadian and American conservation organizations to halt mining e ...

, Tsʼilʔos,

Northern Rocky Mountains The Northern Rocky Mountains, usually referred to as the Northern Rockies, are a subdivision of the Canadian Rockies comprising the northern half of the Canadian segment of the Rocky Mountains. While their northward limit is easily defined as the ...

and

Cariboo Mountains The Cariboo Mountains are the northernmost subrange of the Columbia Mountains, which run down into the Spokane area of the United States and include the Selkirks, Monashees and Purcells. The Cariboo Mountains are entirely within the province of ...

, along with the adoption of the Protected Areas of British Columbia Act, the park system doubled in area to 10.9 million hectares (11.6% of the province) in just 10 years.

Liberal administration (2001-2017)

Park creation halted for the first few years of the Liberal Party government (2001-2017) as it downsized government operations, though they followed through, in 2004, with recommendations of completed land use plans for creating parks in identified areas. The provincial-federal agreement to assemble the

Gulf Islands National Park Reserve Gulf Islands National Park Reserve is a national park located on and around the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada. In the National Parks System Plan, this park provides representation of the Strait of Georgia Lowlands natural region, the ...

was continued and resulted in several new provincial parks in the

Gulf Islands The Gulf Islands are a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia. Etymology The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia," the original term used by George Vancouver in his ...

. The major accomplishment of this era was creation of conservancies in 2006 as protected areas that prioritize biological diversity and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

values, rather than recreational values. First Nations had previously been largely excluded from deliberations of park development until the 1997 Supreme Court decision of Delgamuukw v British Columbia after which the provincial government began recognizing

Aboriginal title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

. Also in this era, land trusts became an effective tool to protect privately owned land in a way that did not require its outright purchase and management by the government. On April 8, 2020, BC Parks announced the full closure of the parks and protected areas system in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The agency began to selectively reopen parks for day-use only starting on May 14.

Parks and Protected Areas System

The British Columbia Parks and Protected Areas System is a collection of physical properties managed by BC Parks. The system encompasses 1,035 park units covering an area of about 14.1 million hectares (54,440 mi²) - about 14.4% of the entire province - with over 6,000 km (3,700 mi) of hiking trails and approximately 12,700 campsites. It is the third largest park system in North America after

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

s systems of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The largest park unit is Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park at 989,616 hectares (3,821 mi²). The smallest park unit is Ballingall Islets Ecological Reserve at just 0.2 hectares (0.49

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s). BC Parks reported attendance of 26,253,500 at all parks and protected areas in 2018-19.

Cypress Provincial Park Cypress Provincial Park is a provincial park on the North Shore of Metro Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia. The park has two sections: a southern section which is accessible by road, and a northern section which is only accessible ...

is the most visited park unit with over 1.8 million visitors in 2017-18.

Designations

The British Columbia Protected Areas System consists of five different designations: *

Provincial Parks file:Ischigualasto national park.jpg, Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countr ...

: Significant protected

Crown lands Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

, divided into three classes: ** Class A Parks: Lands dedicated to the preservation of their natural environments. Development is generally restricted for recreational facilities only. ** Class B Parks: Additional activities and uses are permitted, provided that they are not detrimental to recreational values. The only parks with this classification are Sooke Mountain and Strathcona-Westmin. ** Class C Parks: Managed by a local board, and are generally smaller, providing local recreational amenities. * Recreation Areas: Lands set aside for recreational use by the public. It is also land that is being evaluated by BC Parks from both a protected area value and an economic opportunity perspective to determine whether the area should be "upgraded" to full protected area status or returned to integrated resource management lands. As of December 2020, there are only two recreation areas:

Coquihalla Summit Coquihalla Summit (el. ) is a highway summit along the Coquihalla Highway in British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point on the highway between the cities of Hope and Merritt. It is located just south of the former toll booth plaza on the ...

and Kettle River. * Conservancies: Lands that are protected and maintained for biological diversity, natural environments, and recreational values. These lands are also explicitly recognized for social, ceremonial and cultural uses of

. * Protected Areas: A natural area that generally has existing or proposed activities that are normally restricted from a provincial park, such as an industrial road,

pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

transmission line In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...

, or communications site. * Ecological Reserves: An area reserved for its ecological importance, and providing suitable scientific research and educational purposes, representative examples of natural ecosystems or ecological recovery from human activity, habitat for rare or endangered native plants and animals, and/or unique and rare examples of botanical, zoological or geological phenomena. The BC Parks and Protected Areas System also feature two sub-designations: * Marine Provincial Parks: Waters dedicated to the preservation of their natural environments and recreational value. * Historic Provincial Parks: Lands dedicated to the preservation of their historic significance to the province. Since the adoption of the Heritage Conservation Act in 1998, these parks have been gradually re-designated as "Provincial heritage properties" and placed under

local administration Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. As of December 2020, only two Historic Provincial Parks remain: Morden Colliery and

Seton Portage Seton Portage () is a community located on a narrow strip of land between Anderson Lake and Seton Lake in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia. The community is home to two Seton Lake First Nation communities at either end of t ...

References

{{Authority control 1911 establishments in British Columbia Government agencies established in 1911 British Columbia government departments and agencies Nature conservation organizations based in Canada Protected areas of British Columbia Environmental organizations based in British Columbia