Limits of Acceptable Change Pilot Projects

Background

Commercial backcountry tourism and public recreation are growing activities across British Columbia. The demand for opportunities for both commercially guided and individual recreation activities continues to increase, whether for wilderness hiking, backcountry skiing, sea kayaking or many other activities. B.C. is working to support this growing demand and to double tourism by 2015. Public access to recreational areas and opportunities is also of fundamental importance to British Columbians.

As there is an increase in recreation use, it is necessary to ensure that we manage and protect the resources upon which these recreation opportunities depend - to protect the very experience that tourists are coming to enjoy into the future. This objective has led the Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) and the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts (MTSA) to cooperate on two pilot projects, designed to test an approach for managing recreation use.

ILMB, in cooperation with MTSA, is conducting two pilot projects, one in Johnstone Strait and one in Golden, to test the application of the Limits of Acceptable Change methodology. The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) methodology focuses on defining desired outcomes and managing recreation use impacts to maintain desired resource and social conditions. More about Limits of Acceptable Change.

Johnstone Strait images courtesy of Ken Matheson