Size of British Columbia's Protected Areas - Environmental Trends in British Columbia 2002, State of Environment Reporting, Strategic Policy, Planning and Intergovernmental Relations Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection

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•	Percentage of Province in Protected Area Status

•	Percentage of Ecosystems Protected

•	Number of Protected Areas in Each Size Category

•	Across Canada Comparison of Protected Areas

•	Total Provincial Forests Protected

State of Environment Reporting

How Big are British Columbia's Protected Areas?

Number of Protected Areas in Each Size Category (size in hectares)

number of protected areas in each size category

SOURCE: Decision Support Services, Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, 2002. NOTES: This analysis includes both terrestrial and marine protected areas.

How big are British Columbia’s protected areas?

British Columbia has 877 protected areas composed of national and provincial parks, ecological reserves and other designations comprising 926 distinct areas.
Large protected areas are vital to maintain viable populations of animals with large home ranges, such as Grizzly Bears.
When contiguous protected areas are viewed as a single unit, 21 protected areas in British Columbia are larger than 100,000 hectares; two of those are larger than 1 million hectares.
Small protected areas provide protection for rare and endangered species and their habitats, when larger reserves are not possible, and help to link together larger reserves.
150 protected areas in British Columbia are smaller than 10 hectares.