Past Achievements

Some of our contributions include:

  • Successfully advocating against a direct public access fee to BC Parks through independent campaign efforts and the Recreation Stewardship Panel.

  • Releasing its River Recreation Strategy for British Columbia in 1992, which laid out a framework for identifying and managing the recreational values of the province’s rivers. Provincial ministries adopted the following recommendations as a result: river features inventory was incorporated into the general inventory system used by the Ministry of forests; the Ministry of Environment made a commitment to BC’s heritage rivers system; in 2002 the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection committed to producing an annual State of the Rivers report.

  • Working to establish the Commission on Resources and Environment (CORE) and Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) processes.

  • Succeeding in embedding the interests of public recreation in BC’s Occupiers Liability Act in 1996

  • ORC resisted the dismantling of the Ministry of Forests’ recreation program and its network of recreation sites and trails. Advocating on the grounds that the loss of this valuable public asset would dramatically reduce public access to public land for recreation. The Ministry maintained its role and much of the funding to this program was restored.

  • A member of the Joint Advisory Group for the development of the Off Road Vehicle (ORV) Management Framework, which resulted in the Off Road Vehicle Act.

  • Facilitated the administration of the federal trail funding program for BC’s non-motorized outdoor recreation groups in 2009, and in 2014 ORC facilitated administration of the National Trails Coalition’s trail funding program for BC’s non-motorized outdoor recreation groups.

  • Involved in the formation of the Chilliwack River Valley Trail Association in 2010, which has expanded its area of interest to become the Chilliwack Recreation Advisory Group (CRAG).

  • In 2021 we launched the inaugural BC Trails Day, and more than 30 events were hosted by recreation groups all over BC.

  • As part of the Provincial Trails Advisory Body, we completed a review of the provincial trails strategy and made recommendations to the provincial government.

  • We created a vision and framework for a new BC Trail Fund- on-going project for 2022-2023.

  • The provincial government announced $83 million in funding for recreation within BC Parks. This was partly thanks to almost 2000 ORCBC supporters who wrote to their MLAs to demand better funding for our crucial outdoor spaces.

 

Steve Shannon Photo