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BC Parks Mission and Mandate

Mission Statement

As a public trust, BC Parks' mission is to protect representative and special natural places within the province's Protected Areas System for world-class conservation, outdoor recreation, education and scientific study.

BC Parks is committed to serving British Columbians and their visitors by:

  • protecting and managing for future generations a wide variety of outstanding park lands which represent the best natural features and diverse wilderness environments of the province.
  • providing province-wide opportunities for a diversity of high quality and safe outdoor recreation that is compatible with protecting the natural environment.

Inherent in this mandate is the requirement to maintain a balance between BC Parks' goals for protecting natural environments and outdoor recreation.

BC Parks is also responsible for the management of the provincial system of ecological reserves, established under the authority of the Ecological Reserve Act. The purpose of the Ecological Reserves System is to:

  • maintain British Columbia's ecological diversity through the preservation of representative, and special natural ecosystems, plant and animal species, features and phenomena.

Ecological reserves offer long-term research and educational opportunities as well as limited, non-consumptive public uses, such as nature photography and bird watching.

Mandate

BC Parks' authority is drawn from three pieces of legislation, the Park Act, Ecological Reserve Act and the Environment and Land Use Act, and their associated regulations, policies and agreements.

BC Parks has also been assigned responsibility for regulations related to commercial river rafting (the Commercial River Rafting Safety Act) and regional parks, the Park (Regional) Act. In addition, BC Parks provides the lead in coordinating government's role in the BC and Canadian Heritage Rivers Systems.