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Province to add 1,800-plus campsites, hire more rangers

The B.C. government will spend nearly $23 million over five years to open more campsites in parks and recreation sites across the province, Premier Christy Clark announced Monday.
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The B.C. government will spend nearly $23 million over five years to open more campsites in parks and recreation sites across the province, Premier Christy Clark announced Monday.

The B.C. government will spend nearly $23 million over five years to open more campsites in parks and recreation sites across the province, Premier Christy Clark announced Monday.

She also committed to hiring more park rangers, improving services for people with disabilities and establishing a new B.C. Parks Foundation to generate and manage private donations.

Clark said the province will add 800 campsites in provincial parks and more than 1,000 at recreation sites, which are more rustic campgrounds located on Crown land.

There are currently about 12,700 campsites in parks and 10,400 in recreation sites in B.C.

“Last year, we had a terrible issue with people not being able to make reservations at their own campsites in their own province,” she said. “We want to try and address that by adding more campsites.”

NDP critic George Heyman suggested Clark was “scrambling” to appease British Columbians who were frustrated this year by a shortage of campsites and a parks system starved for money.

“It’s not enough,” he said. “It’s like many things; it’s a Christy Clark Band-Aid on a problem of her own making.”

Environment Minister Mary Polak said the bulk of the new campsites will be in areas where demand is greatest.

“So you will see a concentration in areas like the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Kootenays and the Okanagan,” she said. “But there will, ultimately, over the course of the five-year plan, be expansion of campsite opportunities in every region of the province.”

Bob Peart, executive director of Sierra Club B.C., welcomed the investment, but said more is required.

“After years of neglect, which started probably about the mid-90s, B.C. Parks is in pretty rough shape financially,” he said. “So it’s nice to see an announcement like this. My concern is that what’s really needed is an infusion of operation and maintenance money.”

Jessie Corey of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society B.C. said it was difficult to assess Clark’s promises without more details about the money. She noted that B.C. Parks’s budget has been stagnant for 15 years despite inflation and an expansion of protected areas.

“It’s promising to see that for the first time in a very long time they’re recognizing the need to put more money into the parks system,” said Corey, the society’s terrestrial conservation manager. “I can’t say for sure if it’s a really good thing … without knowing how much money they’re putting into it.”

The B.C. legislature’s select standing committee on finance recently recommended that B.C. Parks receive “adequate” funding in Budget 2017 for management and maintenance as well as to hire more rangers.

Clark said more information will be released in the coming weeks as to how many new park rangers will be hired and whether they will be full-time or auxiliary positions.

The province said it plans to bring in additional revenue for B.C. Parks by selling specialty licence plates, seeking corporate sponsors and making it easier for people to donate online to their favourite park.

Heyman, however, questioned what corporations will receive in return for their financial contributions.

“Soon perhaps, we’ll have the kinds of sponsorships that we see in so many other areas where, instead of booking your favourite campsite, you’ll be getting the Kinder Morgan Memorial Campsite,” he said.

lkines@timescolonist.com