Outdoor recreation in BC at a turning point
Rajiv Dhaliwal (@jeevsalive) photo
40 organizations and businesses call on the new Premier for critical support
This week, a coalition of 40 organizations and businesses representing the interests of the recreation and tourism sectors in B.C. sent a letter to new Premier David Eby, calling on the B.C. Government to increase public spending in the upcoming 2023 provincial budget to support the outdoor sector and B.C.'s communities.
The recreation advocates raised concerns that the surging interest in outdoor recreation, accelerated by the pandemic, is straining limited resources. British Columbians report a lack of parking, access and basic sanitation facilities, aging recreation infrastructure, environmental and wildlife impacts, maintenance backlogs and staffing shortages.
They also voiced that the province risks losing the valuable contributions of community-based recreation groups that help maintain hundreds of recreation sites and twenty percent of B.C.'s trails (8,500km) annually. These groups volunteer more than 63,000 hours each year but face serious challenges, including increasing volunteer burnout and limited access to funds for maintaining B.C.'s recreation infrastructure.
The coalition provided three requests. First, to include funding increases for B.C.'s two recreation agencies, BC Parks and Recreation Sites and Trails BC. Second, to update the decade-old provincial trails strategy with adequate resources for implementation. Finally, to establish a one-time $10 million contribution for a new BC Trail Fund that provides reliable and consistent access to grants for community-based groups, First Nations and local governments that deliver continued stewardship and maintenance of B.C.'s trails and recreation assets.
A recent study indicates that outdoor recreation in B.C. is a significant economic powerhouse that provides more than 15 billion dollars in economic value to British Columbians annually. Outdoor recreation provides many benefits, including community health and social inclusion, reconciliation through Indigenous involvement in recreation planning and management, connection to nature, and economic benefits such as jobs and tourism. Despite the apparent benefits, little has been done in the past two decades to support the sector, leaving the outdoor spaces and the values it depends on increasingly at risk.
For several years, the Province's Budget Committee has recommended that the B.C. Government invests more in staffing and maintenance for B.C.'s two provincial recreation agencies, BC Parks and Recreation Sites and Trails BC, and provides more support for trail stewardship groups. This year, the Committee also recommended dedicated funding for trail maintenance and development for community-based organizations.
The Outdoor Recreation Council of BC (ORCBC) spearheaded the letter from organizations and businesses in the outdoor recreation and tourism sectors that were united in their concerns for the current state of outdoor recreation and the loss of benefits to B.C.'s communities and the province as a whole.
Louise Pedersen, Executive Director for ORCBC, said: "B.C.'s outdoor recreation sector has experienced decades of underfunding, propelling loss of access, adverse environmental and cultural impacts, and strained resources, including pressure on staff and volunteers. With the increasing interest in outdoor recreation, we can only expect things to worsen unless we secure new funding for this vital sector. We are asking the new Premier to include provisions in the upcoming provincial budget for long-term sustainable funding to ensure that quality outdoor recreation experiences are accessible to everyone - and that nature stays clean and beautiful."
British Columbians agree that much more needs to be done. An Ipsos survey that was commissioned by ORCBC this summer confirmed that 85% of outdoor recreation participants in BC support more government investment in the development and maintenance of trails, parks and other recreation amenities in the province.
Barry Janyk, Executive Director of BC Rural Centre, who supported the letter, said: "We are an amazing broad coalition with a critical, shared message that government would be wise to heed. The rural areas of B.C. are our places of healing, learning, and leisure. Please invest in our sustainable futures!"
Kieran Rankin, President of the Recreational Canoeing Association of BC, said: "With growing populations and growing density, we need to invest in proper access to recreational resources. There's no point in having outdoor spaces such as lakes, rivers or even parks to paddle and hike in if we don't have the trails, dedicated river and lake access points, and parking to allow people to actually use them."
The coalition highlighted that last year, British Columbians celebrated when the provincial government allocated $83 million over three years to bolster recreation infrastructure in BC Parks. Still, recreation areas outside of parks, where 85% of the province's land base is found, have yet to see similar support. Particularly forgotten is the provincial agency Recreation Sites and Trails BC, which oversees 15,000 km of trails and 2,200 recreation sites on Crown land with only 50 staff and an $8 million operating budget.
Louise Pedersen said: "We are calling on the Province to make new and necessary investments that will put British Columbia in a much greater position to develop a world-class trail and recreation system that facilitates broad and inclusive participation in outdoor recreation, follows best practices for trail design and environmental considerations, and foster reconciliation through increased Indigenous representation in recreation planning, development and management."
Learn more about the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC's campaign to seek more funding for recreation in the 2023 provincial budget: https://www.orcbc.ca/fundoutdoorrec
Signatories to the letter:
Valhalla Pure Outfitters, Vancouver and Courtenay
