List of protected areas of British Columbia
The following is a list of all provincial parks and protected areas within British Columbia. As of June 2015, there are a total of 1,029 protected areas in the British Columbia Parks and Protected Areas System, covering a total of, or 14.4% of all lands in the province.
History
The popularity of the Glacier and Yoho National Park, both established by the federal government as national parks in 1886, and of municipal parks like Beacon Hill Park, established in 1882 and Stanley Park, established in 1888, led to the government of Richard McBride to adopt the Provincial Parks Act in 1908 which enabled provincial government to reserve public lands for future parks. After the federal government's interest in establishing national park on Vancouver Island became known, McBride placed a large park reserve over the middle of the island; with the adoption of the Strathcona Park Act on March 1, 1911, a portion of this area became BC's first provincial park, 214,451 ha in area at the time. Also, the Mount Robson Provincial Park was established with the Mount Robson Provincial Park Act in 1913 as a 207,976 ha park, and the Garibaldi Provincial Park was reserved in 1920 and established as a 252,006 ha park with the Garibaldi Park Act in 1927. Also in 1911, the McBride government amended the Provincial Parks Act to allow the creation of provincial parks by an Order in Council, rather than an act of parliament. Following the creation of two more national parks, Mount Revelstoke in 1914 and Kootenay in 1920, the government of John Oliver created, by Order in Council, the John Dean Park from a private land donation, and two mountain-top parks, Kokanee Glacier and Mount Assiniboine, with the support of the Alpine Club of Canada. These early parks were established for recreational purposes and the larger ones were intended to be developed as major tourist destinations; their creation did not extinguish any existing forestry or mining rights. The government amended the Provincial Parks Act in 1924 to allow the reduction in area of established parks and also to acquire land for parks through land or timber exchanges. Another amended 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 and Hamber Provincial Parks were over one million hectares when created in 1938 and 1941, respectively, the Wells Gray Provincial Park 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. The Social Credit government of W. A. C. Bennett 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.
As the New Democratic Party government of Dave Barrett formed, awareness of environmental issues 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. The next Social Credit governments 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 and Seymour, or promoting private developments just outside of parks, like Blackcomb and Mount Washington. Likewise seeking a partnership saving costs, the government agreed to move parks and reserves on Moresby Island 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 were created to support the government priority of building Tumbler Ridge.
Park creation under the next New Democratic Party government was guided by the federal government's acceptance of the Brundtland Commission'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, Ts'ilʔos, Northern Rocky Mountains and Cariboo Mountains, along with the adoption of the Protected Areas of British Columbia Act, the park system doubled in area to 10.9 million hectares in just 10 years.
Park creation halted for the first few years of the Liberal Party government as it down-sized 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 was continued and resulted in several new provincial parks in the Gulf Islands. The major accomplishment of this era was creation of conservancies in 2006 as protected areas that prioritize biological diversity and First Nations 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. 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.
Designations
The BC Parks and Protected Areas System consists of five different designations:- Provincial Parks: Significant protected Crown lands, divided into three classes:
- * Class A Parks: Dedicated lands to preserve 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.
- * Class C Parks: Managed by a local board, and are generally smaller, providing local recreational amenities.
- Recreation Areas: Land 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.
- 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 First Nations.
- 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, transmission line 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.
List of parks and protected areas
Former Provincial Parks
This list includes provincial parks that were cancelled. Provincial parks that were cancelled for the purpose of moving the land into a different provincial park are not included. While some provincial parks were deleted as they were deemed to be not suitable for park purposes, most of the parks were deleted so they could be transferred to a municipality or regional district to be local or regional parks. In 2004 several provincial parks were moved into the federal Gulf Islands National Park; likewise a few provincial parks were moved into the Pacific Rim National Park and Gwaii Haanas National Park when those federal parks were established.| Name of former park | Area | Date est'd | Date deleted | Location | Note |
| Alta Lake Wayside Park | Southwest | Transferred to Resort Municipality of Whistler | |||
| Andy Bailey Provincial Park | 2004 | Northeast | Transferred to Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, named changed from Jackfish Lake Recreation Area in | ||
| Anthony Island Provincial Park | Northwest | Transferred to Gwaii Haanas National Park | |||
| Antlers Beach Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to Regional District of Central Okanagan | |||
| Apex Mountain Park | Southeast | Converted into a Recreation Area in 1980 and cancelled in | |||
| Appledale Park | Southeast | ||||
| Art Fraser Park | Northeast | Transferred to Town of Fort Nelson | |||
| Barkerville Provincial Park | North central | as a "Provincial heritage property" under the Heritage Conservation Act and placed under the management of the Barkerville Heritage Trust | |||
| Beaumont Marine Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve | |||
| Beaver Harbour Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to District of Port Hardy | |||
| Blenkin Memorial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Comox-Strathcona Regional District | |||
| Blessing's Grave Historic Park | North central | Re-designated as a "Provincial heritage property" under the Heritage Conservation Act | |||
| Blue River Park | North central | ||||
| Brentwood Bay Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to District of Central Saanich | |||
| Brilliant Terrace Park | Southeast | ||||
| Brothers Memorial Park | Southwest | Transferred to Village of Gibsons | |||
| Buck Lake Park | North central | ||||
| Cabbage Island Marine Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve | |||
| Canal Flats Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to Village of Canal Flats, renamed Tilley Memorial Park | |||
| Cayoosh Park | North central | ||||
| Celista Park | North central | Management contracted to North Shuswap Community Association | |||
| Chaster Park | Southwest | Transferred to Sunshine Coast Regional District | |||
| China Creek Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District | |||
| Christie Memorial Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen | |||
| Clinton Creek Park | North central | Transferred to Village of Clinton | |||
| Colleymount Community Park | North central | ||||
| Columbia Village Historic Park | Southeast | Transferred to Columbia-Shuswap Regional District | |||
| Cottonwood House Historic Park | North central | as a "Provincial heritage property" under the Heritage Conservation Act and placed under the management of the Barkerville Heritage Trust | |||
| Cottonwood Lake Park | Southeast | Transferred to Regional District of Central Kootenay | |||
| Crescent Beach Provincial Park | Southwest | Transferred to Municipality of Surrey | |||
| D'Arcy Island Marine Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve | |||
| Deadman Lake Provincial Park | Southeast | Converted to a Recreation Area | |||
| Dutch Lake Park | North central | Transferred to Thompson-Nicola Regional District, later incorporated into District of Clearwater | |||
| Elizabeth Lake Park | Southeast | Transferred to City of Cranbrook | |||
| Elk River Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to City of Fernie | |||
| Fort McLeod Historic Park | Northeast | as a "Provincial heritage property" under the Heritage Conservation Act | |||
| Fort St. John Historic Park | Northeast | ||||
| Fort Steele Historic Park | Southeast | Re-designated as a "Provincial heritage property" under the Heritage Conservation Act and placed under the management of The Friends of Fort Steele Society | |||
| Freeman King Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Capital Regional District, forms part of Francis/King Regional Park | |||
| Gardom Lake Park | North central | ||||
| Gold River Park | Vancouver Island | ||||
| Golden Community Park | Southeast | Transferred to Village of Golden, developed for various uses | |||
| Gun Lake Park | Southwest | ||||
| Harwood Point Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Powell River Regional District | |||
| Haslam Lake Park | Southwest | Transferred to Powell River Regional District | |||
| Hirsch Creek Park | Northwest | Transferred to District of Kitimat | |||
| Helmcken Centennial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Capital Regional District, later incorporated into Town of View Royal | |||
| Isle-de-Lis Marine Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve | |||
| Ivy Green Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to the Stz'uminus First Nation | |||
| James Johnstone Park | Southeast | Transferred to Regional District of Central Kootenay | |||
| Kalamoir Park | Southeast | Transferred to Regional District of Central Okanagan | |||
| Kawkawa Lake Park | Southwest | Transferred to District of Hope | |||
| Kelowna Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to City of Kelowna | |||
| Kersey Lake Park | North central | ||||
| Kledo Creek Provincial Park | 2006 | Northeast | The BC Ministry of the Environment deemed that the six-hectare park did "not add to the ecological or recreational portfolio of the BC Parks system" and therefore, returned it to the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands for administration. | ||
| Kuskonook Park | Southeast | ||||
| Lakeview Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Village of Lake Cowichan | |||
| Langford Centennial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Capital Regional District, later incorporated into City of Langford | |||
| Lardeau Provincial Park | Southeast | ||||
| Liard River Provincial Park | 1944 | 1949 | Northeast | ||
| Little Shuswap Lake Provincial Park | North central | Transferred to Village of Chase | |||
| Long Lake Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | ||||
| Manitou Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen | |||
| Mara Point Park | 2010 | Southeast | |||
| Mara Recreation Provincial Park | Southeast | ||||
| Matheson Lake Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Capital Regional District | |||
| McBride Community Park | North central | Transferred to Village of McBride | |||
| Mcdonald Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve | |||
| Meadowland Park | Southwest | ||||
| Medicine Bowls Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to City of Courtenay | |||
| Mission Beach Park | Southeast | Transferred to City of Kelowna | |||
| Mission Flats Park | North central | Transferred to City of Kamloops | |||
| Mollice Lake Park | North central | ||||
| Moose Heights Park | North central | ||||
| Mouat Provincial Park | 1997 | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Capital Regional District | ||
| Mount Bruce Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | ||||
| Myrtle Rocks Park | Southwest | Transferred to Powell River Regional District | |||
| Nakusp Hot Springs Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to Village of Nakusp | |||
| Nakusp Recreation Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to Village of Nakusp | |||
| Nazko Community Park | North central | ||||
| Newstead Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Capital Regional District, later incorporated into Town of View Royal | |||
| Oliver Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to Village of Oliver | |||
| Oliver Lake Park | Northwest | ||||
| Palm Beach Park | Southwest | Transferred to Powell River Regional District | |||
| Pass Creek Park | Southeast | Transferred to Regional District of Central Kootenay | |||
| Peace Island Park | Northeast | Transferred to Village of Taylor | |||
| Pearse Park | North central | ||||
| Pemberton Park | Southwest | Transferred to Village of Pemberton, renamed One Mile Lake Park | |||
| Princess Margaret Marine Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve | |||
| Princeton Provincial Park | Southeast | Transferred to Town of Princeton in 1992 | |||
| Prior Centennial Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve | |||
| Racing River Wayside Park | Northeast | ||||
| Rock Creek Park | Southeast | ||||
| Roserim Creek Park | North central | ||||
| Rutland Community Park | Southeast | Transferred to City of Kelowna | |||
| Salt Lake Provincial Park | Northwest | ||||
| Sicamous Beach Park | North central | Transferred to District of Sicamous | |||
| Sidney Spit Marine Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve | |||
| Silver Creek Park | Southwest | Transferred to District of Mission | |||
| Snootli Creek Park | North central | Transferred to Central Coast Regional District | |||
| Spencer Tuck Park | Northeast | Transferred to Peace River Regional District | |||
| Strombeck Provincial Park | Northwest | Transferred to federal government | |||
| Sudeten Provincial Park | Northeast | Management transferred to Tomslake & District Recreation Commission | |||
| Sumas Mountain Provincial Park | Southwest | Transferred to Fraser Valley Regional District | |||
| Sunnybrae Provincial Park | North central | Transferred to Columbia-Shuswap Regional District, converted from Recreation Area to Provincial Park in | |||
| Sutherland Hills Park | Southeast | Transferred to Regional District of Central Okanagan | |||
| sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ Provincial Park | 2016 | Southeast | Transferred to Osoyoos Indian Band | ||
| Terrace Park | Northwest | Transferred to District of Terrace | |||
| Testalinda Provincial Park | Southeast | ||||
| Tetsa River Provincial Park | 2004 | Northeast | Transferred to Northern Rockies Regional Municipality | ||
| Thomas S. Francis Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Capital Regional District, forms part of Francis/King Regional Park | |||
| Truman Dagnus Locheed Provincial Park | Southeast | ||||
| Wain Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to District of North Saanich | |||
| Weaver Creek Park | Southwest | ||||
| Westbank Provincial Park | Southeast | ||||
| Westview Provincial Park | Southwest | Transferred to District of Powell River | |||
| White Rock Provincial Park | Southwest | Transferred to Municipality of Surrey | |||
| Wickaninnish Beach Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Pacific Rim National Park | |||
| Winter Cove Provincial Park | Vancouver Island | Transferred to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve |