The B.C. Parks index for 2012

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      While I was writing a story on the draft management plan for Golden Ears Provincial Park, I came across B.C. Parks' statistics report for 2011-12. Posted online on December 17, the report is full of interesting numbers about our provincial park system.

      So in the style of Harper’s Magazine's famed indices, I present to you the B.C. Parks index for 2011-12.

      Number of park visits in 2011-12: 19.3 million

      Number of park visits in 2004-05: 18 million

      Number of day use visits in 2011-12: 16.8 million

      Number of camping visits: 2.3 million

      Number of marine visits: 207,454

      Percentage that park visits declined in 2011-12 from the previous year, mostly due to a "cold and rainy" summer: 1.7 percent

      Amount of budget expenditures in 2011-12: $53 million

      Percentage that budget expenditures rose in 2011-12: 8.9 percent

      Amount of revenue from camping fees in 2011-12: $15 million

      Amount of revenue from backcountry permits: $5,832

      Amount that day use parking revenue decreased in 2011-12 due to the removal of parking fees in March 2011: $826,322

      Amount that ski hill permit revenue increased due to an extended ski season: $137,294

      Number of day use visits to Blackcomb Glacier Provincial Park in 2011-12: 289,419

      Percentage that day use visits to Blackcomb Glacier increased over the previous year: 41.9 percent

      Number of day use visits to Stawamus Chief Provincial Park137,450

      Percentage that day use visits to Stawamus Chief decreased from the previous year: 42.8 percent

      Number of camping visits to Garibaldi Provincial Park9,305

      Percentage that camping visits to Garibaldi increased over the previous year: 99 percent

      Number of visitors that rated park washrooms as "excellent" in B.C. Parks' satisfaction survey: 665

      Number of visitors that rated park washrooms as "poor": 14

      Number of active park use permits in 2011-12: 1,212

      Number of permits for commercial recreation: 445

      Number of permits for film: 43

      Fun facts:

      Visitors haven't been counted in Kennedy Lake Provincial Park since "Service Level Reductions" in 2009.

      A 54.3 percent decline in day use visits to Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park has been blamed on "counter malfunction".

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