Golden Backcountry Recreation Access Plan - Concept and Background

In 1996, local winter-based, public and commercial recreation groups created a "peace in the woods" map, allocating winter recreation activities over the land base in an effort to share the backcountry. The process was hugely successful, and there was nothing like it in the Province. It developed camaraderie among the groups and provided the beginning of a united front for promotion of Golden's winter tourism opportunities.

That process was later joined by other locally based interest groups that further discussed winter, summer and aerial recreation use in our backcountry. It was coordinated by the B.C. Provincial government. By 2001 the groups came up with recommendations regarding public and commercial recreational use, in order to protect valuable recreation experiences, promote and manage tourism, and lessen our impact on important wildlife habitat. In 2001 the public was asked to comment on those recommendations during a series of public open houses.

As a result, the Golden Backcountry Recreation Access Plan was approved by government in 2003 to provide increased certainty for investment of public and commercial recreation activities while maintaining wildlife habitat. The plan covers 9,000 square kilometres, and deals only with commercial and public recreation, not other industrial users.

When the plan was approved, government asked that key interest groups stay on to help with providing advice regarding plan implementation and amendment. These groups, now called the Golden Backcountry Recreation Advisory Committee (GBRAC), have worked with the Integrated Land Management Bureau of the Provincial Government to produce these revised recommendations for the West Bench area.

Golden has special recreational opportunities, and has experienced a steady growth in backcountry use over the last ten years. Development at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort has placed the area on the international stage. If we were not to plan for this increased public and commercial recreational use, there will be conflicts as competing uses and values struggle to maintain their opportunities.

The main objective of the plan is about trying to avoid conflicts by determining land use zonations that balance recreational opportunities on the land. This objective has not been achieved through regulatory process. Instead, plan implementation has been reliant on the acceptance and cooperation of the community recreational users and government agencies. Compliance with the plan will only be legislated where specific resources are sensitive enough to indicate a need for enforcement.