Advocacy

Friends of Garibaldi Park Society’s Advocacy Committee identifies and works on any issues which affect people’s access and usage of the park. This includes raising awareness of topics, identifying desirable outcomes and working to achieve those.

BC Parks Day-Use Passes — Ongoing

The Friends of Garibaldi Park Society has opposed day-use passes in BC Parks since they were first piloted in 2020. In short, we believe that instead of limiting access to parks, investing in trails and other backcountry facilities is the right way to manage capacity in our provincial parks. Read our full statement here.

While BC Parks has sought input on day-use passes, its process was heavily biased towards reintroducing passes and solicited feedback only from those who had successfully obtained passes. These biases led FOGPS to develop its own survey on people’s experiences with the day-use pass system, which showed that less than a third of respondents support a day-use pass system. Read full survey results here.

If you share our concerns, we encourage you to also contact BC Parks and your MLA.

Garibaldi at Squamish — Ongoing

The Friends of Garibaldi Park Society (FOGPS) does not support the proposed Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS) ski resort. The extensive proposal—which includes a significant amount of real estate in addition to ski/snowboard runs—would fundamentally change the character of the area. In the words of the FMCBC (of which FOGPS is a member club), “Squamish could lose the very reasons people are attracted to the area” if the resort goes ahead.

You can read our full position on the issue here.

BC Parks Day Use Pass Pilot Project — Ongoing

On June 15, 2021, BC Parks announced the reintroduction of day-use passes for summer 2021.

As made clear in our original statement (read here), FOGPS does not support limiting access to provincial parks. We strongly believe that a day-use pass reservation system is not the right way to manage capacity in our provincial parks as it focuses on limiting access to our outdoor spaces, rather than creating new opportunities to increase access in a time when British Columbians desperately need it.

Read our response to this announcement here. This statement has been sent to BC Parks and other stakeholders.

If you share our concerns, we encourage you to also contact BC Parks and your MLA.

South West Garibaldi Park Amendment Proposal — Ongoing

The British Columbia Mountaineering Club (BCMC)—via its advocacy arm, BackcountryBC—has proposed a number of changes to Garibaldi Park’s southwestern section.

These include rezoning some areas for recreational use, the addition of new trails and the building of several huts. (For full details, click here.)

As a general principle, FOGPS supports greater access to the park, especially as a way to manage capacity issues in popular areas. However, there are some details of the proposal with which the society is not fully aligned and some considerations which it feels are missing from the proposal. We are in the process of setting out the details of our position on the proposed amendment, which will be published here once completed.

Our position on the proposal can be viewed here.

Rubble Creek Winter Access — Resolved

Rubble Creek is a major access point for Garibaldi Park, acting as the trailhead for Garibaldi Lake and Panorama Ridge, among others.

Historically, its access road and parking lot have not been plowed (and were therefore inaccessible) in winter. In previous winters, there had been space for a small number of cars to park beside the road just off the highway, but No Parking signs were installed in this area in 2020.

While this was a longstanding issue, drastically increased interest in backcountry recreation due to the COVID-19 pandemic served to highlight it.

In December 2020, several local organisations, including FOGPS, met with representatives of BC Parks to advocate for the outdoor community and discuss options for providing winter access to Rubble Creek. At that meeting, BC Parks stated that they did not have budget to cover plowing for the winter, but shortly after, additional budget was released for this purpose.

BC Parks specified that this money was being provided on a one-time basis, so winter access will have to be discussed again for the 2021/22 winter, but FOGPS is hopeful that it will be possible to build on this precedent.