Recreation Trails Strategy for British Columbia

British Columbia is fortunate to have an abundance and diversity of recreation trails that provide a wide variety of outdoor experiences for users from all walks of life. In addition to unparalleled recreation opportunities, our trails also offer tremendous potential for significant health, economic, social, cultural/heritage, and environmental benefits to individuals, communities and the province as a whole.

Trail Stewardship and Management

Currently, five provincial agencies (Ministry of Transportation; Ministry of Agriculture and Lands; Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts; Tourism BC; and BC Parks), several levels of government (federal, provincial, regional district, municipal), and many stakeholders and interest groups (e.g., First Nations, recreation and stewardship groups) are either directly or indirectly involved in the management of B.C. trails.

Trail Strategy Development

To coordinate a shared and sustainable vision for managing the province’s trails, and develop a framework for guiding future decision making to strengthen the benefits from our recreation trail network, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, together with the Ministry of Environment (BC Parks), has initiated a Recreation Trails Strategy for British Columbia. Development of the trails strategy will take a multi-phased approach. The first phase, completed last year, assessed the status of BC’s current recreation trail network and proposed a process for developing a made-in-BC trails strategy.  This information is summarized in the Recreation Trail Strategy for BC-Background Report. Phase 2, currently underway, involves the development of a Trails Strategy by a broad-based Trails Strategy Committee.

Community consultation is the cornerstone of the strategy development process, and the Trails Strategy Committee is currently finalizing plans for conducting formal community and stakeholder consultations to ensure that interests are represented and heard from all areas of the province.

Questions

Questions related to the Recreation Trails Strategy for B.C. can be submitted to the Recreation Sites and Trails Branch by email:

Email: RecInfo@gov.bc.ca