{"id":627,"date":"2021-02-07T21:16:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T21:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/?p=627"},"modified":"2021-02-07T22:00:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T22:00:17","slug":"b-c-outdoor-organizations-call-for-60-million-in-budget-increase-for-provincial-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/2021\/02\/07\/b-c-outdoor-organizations-call-for-60-million-in-budget-increase-for-provincial-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C outdoor organizations call for $60 million in budget increase for provincial parks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Outdoor Recreation Council of BC (ORC) <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.orcbc.ca\/time-to-invest-in-bc-parks\/\" target=\"_blank\">sent a letter<\/a> to B.C Premier John Horgan on Feb. 4, advocating for a $60 million dollar budget increase for B.C Parks in Budget 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The letter was signed by 19 tourism, conservation and labour organizations, including Indigenous Tourism BC, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) British Columbia, British Columbia Hotel Association, Trails BC and others. These organizations represent over 1,400 member organizations and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>B.C Parks has seen a steady increase in visitations over the past 10 years. From 2009 to 2018, provincial parks saw a 30 per cent increase in daily total visits, according to figures from <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/bcparks.ca\/research\/\" target=\"_blank\">B.C Parks annual report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 2018-2019 year, B.C parks welcomed over 26 million visitors. Figures for 2019-2020 have not been released yet on the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ORC&#8217;s letter called for a $60 million increase for B.C Parks, which would allow for an increase in staffing levels, ecosystem restoration, park system expansion, investments in partnerships with Indigenous communities and other conservation and tourism projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/5216775\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In the letter, ORC stated that park visitors have struggled with finding parking, securing reservations for campgrounds and experienced poorly maintained and eroded trail infrastructure for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B.C Parks is the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/bcparks.ca\/about\/facts-figures.html#:~:text=Spatsizi%20Plateau%20Wilderness%20Park%2C%20one,British%20Columbia's%20largest%20provincial%20park.\" target=\"_blank\">third-largest parks system<\/a> in North America, after Canada&#8217;s national park system and the United States National Park Service. The parks and protected areas system <a href=\"https:\/\/bcparks.ca\/about\/park-designations.html#:~:text=Since%20the%20establishment%20of%20Strathcona,%2C%2014.4%25%20of%20the%20province.\">c<\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/bcparks.ca\/about\/park-designations.html#:~:text=Since%20the%20establishment%20of%20Strathcona,%2C%2014.4%25%20of%20the%20province.\" target=\"_blank\">overs 14 million hectares<\/a>, or 14.4 per cent of the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-hierarchy\" data-src=\"visualisation\/5222615\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/cpcil.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CPC-Economic-impact-of-canadais-national-provincial-and-territorial-parks-in-2009.pdf\">Economic Impact of Canada&#8217;s National, Provincial and Territorial Parks in 2009<\/a>&#8221; report found that the parks generate substantial economic activity, especially in remote areas, through jobs and capital projects, as well as visitor spending on transportation, accommodation and food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Domestic and international tourism has the potential to play a significant role in the economic recovery of the province,&#8221; the letter read. &#8220;It is widely believed that tourists will place increased value on outdoor experiences as the world emerges from the global pandemic.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/cpawsbc.org\/new-survey-finds-winter-wont-be-putting-a-chill-on-recreation-for-british-columbians\/\" target=\"_blank\">survey conducted by CPAWS in December 2020<\/a> found that 58 per cent of respondents anticipate parks will be busier this winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>70 per cent were concerned of their fellow park visitors being unprepared for winter conditions while 60 per cent were concerned about search and rescue teams becoming too busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Long term lack of funding of our parks has left them ill-equipped to handle crowds at the best of times,&#8221; wrote Tori Ball, a terrestrial campaigner with CPAWS in the press release. &#8220;It is critical that we get more staff into parks to promote safety and make sure visitor infrastructure is in place, and avoid putting more pressure on volunteer search and rescue teams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-cards\" data-src=\"visualisation\/5215646\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Outdoor Recreation Council of BC (ORC) sent a letter to B.C Premier John Horgan on Feb. 4, advocating for a $60 million dollar budget increase for B.C Parks in Budget 2021. The letter was signed by 19 tourism, conservation and labour organizations, including Indigenous Tourism BC, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) British Columbia, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}