Parking fees have been lifted from 41 provincial parks around British Columbia, and the provincial government will make up the $650,000 annual revenue in the environment ministry budget.
Premier Christy Clark and Environment Minister Terry Lake made the announcement yesterday (May 3) at Mt. Seymour Provincial Park in North Vancouver, to mark the 100th anniversary of the BC Parks system.
The parking fees have been unpopular since they were introduced in the first term of the B.C. Liberal government. The environment ministry states it brought in about $1 million a year, of which $350,000 went to general revenue with the rest going to fund park upkeep.
Lake also announced a $500,000 community legacy fund that will accept applications from communities to make improvements to their local park. Up to $20,000 will be provided to selected projects for trail upgrades and other improvements.
"Our parks not only contribute to a healthy lifestyle and protect our environment, they are important to our economy," Clark said. "More park visitors mean more tourism dollars and more jobs for rural British Columbians and we want to eliminate any barriers to using the parks."
Only the higher-traffic southern locations in B.C.'s system of 1,000 parks had the ticket machines, which charged up to $5 to park a vehicle for the day.
In the Lower Mainland, parking fees were in force at Alice Lake, Brandywine Falls, Coquihalla Canyon, Cultus Lake, Cypress Bowl, Garibaldi, Golden Ears, Murrin, Porpoise Bay, Porteau Cove, Rolley Lake, Sasquatch and Shannon Falls Provincial parks.
Okanagan parks where fees applied until May 3 are Bear Creek, Manning, Ellison, Kalamalka, Kekuli Bay, Mabel Lake, Mara Lake, Okanagan Lake and Sunoka.
In the Thompson region, fees were charged at Herald, Lac Le Jeune, Paul Lake and Shuswap Lake.
On Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands, parking machines were in place at Bamberton, Englishman River Falls, French Beach, Goldstream, Gordon Bay, Juan de Fuca, Little Qualicum Falls, Miracle Beach, Montague Harbour, Rathtrevor, Ruckle, Sooke Potholes and Sproat Lake.
