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Facts and Figures

British Columbia has the second largest parks system in Canada, after Canada's National Parks. Some key features of BC Parks include:

  • more than 340 campgrounds, 11,000 campsites, 118 boat launches and 263 day-use areas in B.C.'s provincial park system;
  • approximately 6,000 kms of hiking trails;
  • more than 230 parks have facilities for those with disabilities;
  • the 947,026 hectare Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park is a World Heritage Site. Together with adjacent parks in Alaska and the Yukon, it forms the world's largest international World Heritage Site;
  • Khutzeymateen Provincial Park is Canada's only grizzly bear sanctuary and is home to about 50 grizzlies, the highest known concentration along the British Columbia coast;
  • Liard River Hot Springs are ranked in the top five of all North American Hot Springs;
  • the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world is protected in Kitlope Heritage Conservancy;
  • Anne Vallee (Triangle Island) Ecological Reserve protects the largest seabird colony in British Columbia and the largest Stellar's sea lion rookery in Canada and the second largest in the world;
  • 70% of British Columbia's five million nesting seabirds are protected in 13 of our ecological reserves;
  • 14.26% (13.05 million hectares) of British Columbia's land base is protected;
  • Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park, one of Canada's largest and most significant parks, supports populations of wildlife and includes one of British Columbia's most important habitats for woodland caribou;
  • Tweedsmuir Provincial Park at 989,616 hectares, is British Columbia's largest provincial park. The smallest is Memory Island, at less than one hectare;
  • Stone Mountain Provincial Park is the highest elevation pass of the Alaska Highway;
  • Strathcona Park (created in 1911, it was B.C.'s first provincial park) contains the 440 metre Della Falls, which is Canada's highest and one of the ten highest falls in the world; and,
  • the world's most productive sockeye salmon run can be viewed at Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park.

Visitor Use

  • almost 90% of British Columbians have used a provincial park at some time; and,
  • about six in ten residents of British Columbia use a provincial park each year.

Further information

  • Frequently Asked Questions - lists various questions and answers regarding policies and procedures to follow while visiting our provincial parks and protected areas.
  • Province of BC Facts - lists interesting facts provided by the Government of British Columbia.