One of British Columbia’s busiest provincial parks will see closures for several periods of the year under a new agreement with two First Nations.
The closures in May, June and September affect Joffre Lakes Park, known as Pipi7íyekw to the Líl̓wat Nation and N’Quatqua.
In a media release Thursday, the Ministry of Environment said the closures aim to protect the park’s natural ecology while giving time to the nations to engage in cultural practices.
“By implementing these closures, we are striving to reintroduce our community to an area where they have been marginalized,” said Kukwpi Sk̓alulmecw, Chief Dean Nelson of Líl̓wat Nation.
“The time and space created by these closures will allow our youth, elders and all Lil’wat citizens to practise their inherent rights while reconnecting with the land.”
The B.C. government and the two nations have been working on park and visitor management since 2018.
The ministry said Thursday that evidence showed the need to further regulate park use to prevent environmental degradation from “unsustainably high human traffic.”
The province says park traffic reached an all-time high in 2019, with more than 196,000 visitors, a 222-per cent increase from a decade prior.
The area has also been plagued by parking chaos and trash.
“As more and more people arrive to enjoy the incredible beauty of Pipi7íyekw/Joffre Lakes Park, there is an impacting result on the environment,” Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement.
“We have deep appreciation for the collaboration that has gone into welcoming visitors to the park from summer to Labour Day long weekend, while ensuring First Nations communities have the time and space to connect with the land, their culture and traditions in a meaningful way.”
Under the new 2024 operations park operations plan, three “Pipi7íyekw Reconnection Celebration” periods have been set aside for Indigenous use of the area.
The park will be closed to recreational users from April 30 to May 15 for Indigenous-led cultural celebrations, including Stl’atl’imx Days — a celebration of the Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe on May 10, 1911. It will then close again between June 14 and June 23 for summer solstice and Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations. The third closure will come after Labour Day, between Sept. 3 and Oct. 6 for Indigenous fall harvesting and the Nationa Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The move comes after the two nations moved proactively last summer, pushing the province to close the park to visitors and assert rights and title to harvest in the area.
That prompted negotiations with the province that saw the park temporarily reopen before cooling again for much of September.
The province and nations ultimately came to an agreement to negotiate future closures to give the nations time for harvesting and cultural activities in the park.
Nelson praised the 2024 agreement as a “true step in our shared journey of reconciliation.”
The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District’s chair and the mayor of Pemberton also expressed support for the plan.
Under the agreement, the park will open to the public on May 16.
Visitors will still need a free day-use pass, under a program implemented in 2020 to try and reduce visitor impacts.