INFORMATION BULLETIN
For Immediate Release 2008ENV0048-000650 April 29, 2008	Ministry of Environment
NEW PARKS AND CONSERVANCIES FOR B.C.

VICTORIA – The British Columbia government introduced legislation today to create 11 new “Class A” provincial parks and 70 additional conservancies, adding almost one million hectares to B.C.’s parks and protected areas network.

 

Bill 38, the Protected Areas of British Columbia (Conservancies and Parks) Amendment Act, 2008, will more than double the number of conservancies, bringing the total number in B.C. to 135 by adding:

• 50 new conservancies as part of the Central Coast and North Coast land-use decision, as well as the conversion of two existing areas established under the Environment and Land Use Act to conservancies.
• Nine new conservancies as a result of the Sea-to-Sky Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP).
• Two new conservancies as a result of the Haida Gwaii land-use agreement.
• Seven new conservancies as a result of the Morice LRMP.

 

The legislation will also create 11 new Class A parks, bringing the total number of Class A parks in B.C. to 604 by adding:

• Six new Class A parks as a result of the Morice LRMP.
• One new Class A park as the result of a private land acquisition on the Central Coast.
• Four new Class A parks as a result of the Okanagan-Shuswap LRMP.

 

In total, this new legislation will add more than 990,000 hectares – approximately twice the size of Prince Edward Island – to B.C.’s parks and protected areas system. 

 

Environment Minister Barry Penner said the legislation represents one of the largest single additions to the protected areas system in the history of the province.

 

If the legislature passes Bill 38, since 2001 the B.C. government will have established 57 new parks, 135 conservancies, one ecological reserve and eight protected areas, and expanded approximately 50 parks and six ecological reserves, protecting more than 1.8 million hectares of additional land.

 

Today, more than 14 per cent (or 13.5 million hectares) of British Columbia is protected – more than any other province in Canada.

 

To make the BC Parks system even better, the B.C. government has invested nearly $83 million over the past four years to improve park infrastructure and acquire additional parkland.

 

For more information about the amendments, please visit: www.env.gov.bc.ca/pac/parks_amendments_2008/

 

For more information about B.C.’s provincial parks, please visit: www.bcparks.ca.

 

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Media contact:	Kate Thompson Manager, Media Relations 250 953-4577
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