Raising camping fees at B.C. parks won't lead to fewer visitors, minister says

Higher camping fees won't decrease the number of visitors to B.C.'s parks, says the province's environment and parks minister.

On Thursday, the B.C. government announced that it will raise fees for camping during the peak season at just over 60 high-use provincial parks.

In particular, the province is introducing a $20 surcharge for campers coming from out of province. It will apply to both backcountry and frontcountry camping, cabin rentals, mooring buoys and dock use.

Environment and Parks Minister Tamara Davidson said the fee hikes were necessary to keep up with the increasing costs of park maintenance, particularly given that extreme weather has caused considerable damage to some parks.

"We have 27 million visits to our B.C. Parks each year," she told Gregor Craigie, host of CBC's On The Island.

"And of those, 85 per cent of them are B.C. residents. So we wanted to keep it affordable, but we still need to keep up with the costs."

Davidson argued that B.C.'s parks are still very affordable, and said the fees are only going up at sites that have seen an rise in visitors.

"Some of these fees we haven't changed for the last 10 years and some of them haven't been changed since the 1990s," she said.

"We know that our jurisdiction is still the lowest, [compared] to Alberta or Washington state."

Davidson said there are programs that offer discounted or free camping for seniors and those on income assistance and said the province will continue them.

"We're still cheaper than many of the private campgrounds. And we're also looking at different areas ... we're trying to encourage people to look at areas that might be not as busy," the minister said.

Davidson added that she doesn't think the hikes will lead to a decrease in visitors.

"That's our brand — Super, Natural B.C.," she said. "People want to get out and see our iconic places, our iconic parks. And we're going to maintain those parks so that people have access to them."

Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell — who previously operated the Wells Gray Park on a contract for over 30 years, until 2019 — says the hikes were a long time coming, and he is in support of their rollout.