Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Feature - Back to front

New fees for ‘front country’ recreation in provincial parks but no new funding for backcountry safety, awareness

The new model for recreation in provincial parks was unveiled by Water, Land and Air Protection Minister Joyce Murray this week, including parking fees at the Garibaldi trailhead, Brandywine Falls, Alice Lake, Shannon Falls, Murrin and Porteau Cove provincial parks.

There may also be new recreation and education services offered in some parks this year, including canoe and kayak rentals, rock-climbing instruction, nature appreciation tours, bird watching, wildlife viewing, snowshoeing and accommodation in yurts.

"Our new recreation model will put park, fish and wildlife recreation services on a sound financial footing," Murray said in a release. "This new model is about providing a better quality recreation experience in B.C. Fees and licences will be dedicated to maintaining and enhancing park, fish, and wildlife services."

All fees and licence revenue raised from fish and wildlife recreation will be dedicated to those services and all fees and licence revenue raised in provincial parks will remain in the parks system. Previously, most of these funds were returned to general revenue.

The new model is intended to provide more resources to maintain campsites and day-use areas in provincial parks and provide "world-class hunting and angling," according to the release.

"Government retains full public control over all of these services, and conservation of environmental values will continue to be our overriding concern," Murray said.

The province will also maintain the provincial hatchery program and Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, increase public involvement through recreation advisory committees, look at establishing a parks foundation or trust, and develop a broad, long-term recreation strategy.

The new model is based on recommendations from an independent Recreation Stewardship Panel appointed last May and headed by Bruce Strachan. One of the catalysts for the panel and its recommendations, according to Murray, was that while the size of B.C.’s parks system has doubled in the last decade, funding has declined over that same period. There is currently a facilities maintenance backlog of about $40 million in B.C. parks.

"The panel… believes that services which are required to support recreation should be primarily paid for by the users," Strachan wrote in the introduction to the panel’s report. "The panel is recommending a special purpose account be established to receive existing and new user fee revenue. This non-lapsing interest-bearing account will provide a direct, transparent funding source for the Ministry’s recreation services. As well, the process for setting fees must become more efficient, responsive to operational needs and reflect the panel’s principles. To achieve this, the panel is recommending the authority to set fees be delegated to the Minister."

The panel’s mandate was to look at "front country" recreation in provincial parks, which is defined as any park where there is road access. Strachan, in an interview last month prior to the release of the report, had no comments about commercial ski operations within provincial parks other than to say, "we’re looking at areas that currently don’t have ski areas in parks because we’re already deriving a revenue from the operations that are within parks."

Strachan added: "In terms of the user fees, our founding principles are that the state or the province should pay for conservation of parks and fish and wildlife. But we believe the recreators should pay for recreation. In other words if you’re using that park there should be a user fee."

Strachan doesn’t believe there will be a public backlash to user fees.

"It’s common in other provinces and I think there’s probably an expectation that a day fee or parking fee would be appropriate," he said.

Although there may not be that many amenities in some parks the Stewardship Panel believes if people are recreating there should be some sort of a fee that they’re prepared to pay.

"Even going for a walk does require a maintenance factor," Strachan said.

Backcountry not part of mandate

While the new model has dealt with the front country of B.C. parks, to achieve the provincial government’s vision of expanding world-class outdoor recreation opportunities and additional funding for parks maintenance, backcountry recreation was not part of the panel’s mandate. This is an area of concern to many people in the outdoor recreation sector who are seeing increasing numbers of people venturing into the backcountry. Some believe if B.C. is awarded the 2010 Winter Olympic Games interest in the B.C. backcountry will grow, and a portion of any Olympic legacy fund should go into backcountry safety awareness.

Brian Jones, manager of Canada West Mountain School in Vancouver, an institution that focuses on educational programs teaching people how to be safe in the backcountry, is one of those people. Jones has seen a steady increase in the numbers of people wanting to get involved in backcountry sports in the last 10 to 15 years.

Backcountry recreation in parks is done mostly by individuals who have the experience and are willing to access these areas in a self-propelled manner. Motorized backcountry recreation, involving snowmobiles, helicopters, motorcyles or ATVs, is generally not permitted in provincial parks.

"So really when we’re talking B.C. parks we’re talking about people willing to put the energy into it," Jones says. "That (number) is growing. There’s no doubt."

Jones goes on to say that the increased pressure on the front country areas of parks is having a ripple effect, because traditionally the front country in the winter time has the same characteristics as the backcountry.

"Now that there’s increased pressure on the front country, folks have to go further afield to get that backcountry experience and there’s the potential to expose themselves to more risk."

What is needed, Jones feels, is funding to increase backcountry awareness and safety, and to assist Search and Rescue teams. And he thinks it should be part of an Olympic legacy.

"If individuals are safer there’s less burden on tax dollars from Search and Rescue," Jones said.

"There’s a cause and effect there," Jones continued. "If people are going out ignorant there are going to be a lot of Search and Rescue teams after them."

If hikers or trail runners venturing into the backcountry are educated and prepared then the experience of outdoor recreation becomes an upward spiral.

"Then the rescue teams can put more energy into pro-active measures as opposed to being reactive," Jones explains. "They’ll spend more time going into schools, out to ski areas and having a presence as a pro-active measure."

Strachan understands that the whole question of backcountry safety would be very much on people’s minds if funding were part of an Olympic legacy.

"There’d be some expectation that there would be a parks legacy," he acknowledged in an interview last month. "(But) I can also assure you that many communities would also like to see a legacy to their community and there may be a tug on that money."

Brad Sills, a search manager with the 27-member Whistler Search and Rescue Team, says Whistler’s biggest call-out volume is backcountry skiers, out of bounds skiers and snowmobilers. Snowmobiling is huge and is in fact the fastest growing sport in the backcountry in the Whistler call-out area. It’s also one of the most dangerous outdoor sports.

"You have to remember that you’re dealing with a motor vehicle so any of the types of traumas that you would find with motorcycling, you’re going to find in addition to all the other risks," says Sills, adding that the calls-outs for Whistler Search and Rescue tend to be of a very serious nature.

"There’s the risk of falling off a machine at high speed or colliding with another object. We’ve had snowmobiles colliding with each other resulting in major motor vehicle trauma."

There’s a huge number of people, particularly in the snowboarding community, who are utilizing snowmobiles to get to powder slopes for boarding.

"If there’s a growth sector in response then it would be coming from the snowmobiling sector," confirms Sills.

"We’ve had a number of incidents (where snowmobilers have gone off cliffs in bad light)," Sills continues, "crevasse rescues, avalanche rescues. We’ve had drownings. It runs the whole gamut."

Interestingly, mountain biking has not contributed to Whistler Search and Rescue’s workload.

"I don’t know why that is," Sills remarks. "I think we’ve done two call-outs in five years. We do more for mushroom pickers than we do for mountain bikers."

Whistler Search and Rescue covers the Whistler RCMP jurisdiction, which includes at least 20 river drainages. But in spite of the large area the resources of Whistler Search and Rescue are not being strained.

Sills believes that rather than depend on a possible Olympic legacy fund to promote safety awareness, backcountry travel should be the responsibility of the individual.

"We should never let that go," he emphasizes.

Winter Backcountry Forum

Although Jones has concerns about backcountry safety awareness not being part of the Recreation Stewardship Panel’s mandate, or part of Murray’s new model for recreation in provincial parks, there is a process that is addressing user conflicts in the backcountry.

The Winter Backcountry Forum was started in September, 2001, to look for ways to avoid conflict between mechanized and non-mechanized users of the backcountry. It should release its recommendations to the Sea to Sky LRMP in February.

The forum grew out of the application process for commercial recreation tenures a couple of years ago. Concerns were raised within B.C. Assets and Lands Corp. (now Lands and Water B.C.) as these commercial applications were being processed that something had to be done to reduce the potential for conflict. The province agreed and provided funding and staff time to help kick start a community based process where the stakeholders would come together and try and work out a sharing accord between themselves.

A steering committee was established that included representation from the snowmobiling, hiking and skiing clubs and commercial recreation operators. These stakeholders set a goal of developing an accord that would divvy up the backcountry in a way that provided all kinds of users with reasonable access to an enjoyable experience.

The forum has been meeting twice monthly for 15 months. Next month they should release their findings, leading toward a new model for backcountry recreation on crown land.



Comments