The Province and its partners have announced they are currently leading a review to ensure B.C.’s trails remain sustainable for people’s outdoor enjoyment. Currently B.C. has about 30,000 kilometres of formally recognized and managed trails, which include The Trans Canada Trail, First Nations Trails, rail trails, and heritage trails.
Trails are mostly maintained by dedicated volunteers within the surrounding communities, and at this time B.C. has over 500 agreements with volunteer groups for site and trail maintenance.
In 2019, the Provincial Trails Advisory Body, co-chaired by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (Recreation Sites and Trails B.C.) and the Outdoor Recreation Council, began a process to complete a formal review of the trails strategy for B.C. The intent of the review is to ensure the continued relevance and importance of the trail strategy to First Nations, recreationists, communities, tourism proponents and the province as a whole.
This project is set to:
• Engage with key stakeholders from across the outdoor recreation sector and government;
• Gather information and feedback from a variety of trail users and land managers throughout the province;
• Research literature on the importance and value of trails;
• Identify trends in trail usage including challenges and opportunities; and
• Determine the status of implementation of the trails strategy’s 22 action items.
Residents of B.C. are being invited to provide their opinions and ideas about the provincial trails strategy by participating in the engagement process online: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/consultation/trails-strategy-review/
Feedback from this engagement will help to inform changes and updates to the Trails Strategy for B.C. and will help make an assessment of the current status of implementation of the Trails Strategy. Feedback will be accepted until Feb. 28, 2020, at 4 p.m.
To learn about the provincial trails strategy for B.C., visit: http://www.sitesandtrailsbc.ca/documents/Trail-Strategy-for-BC_V6_Nov2012.pdf