Ministry of Environment 2009/10 BC Parks Year End Report July 31, 2010 Prepared by: Jon Kittmer, Senior Economist Brad Aitken, Junior Economist Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Phone: (250) 953-3107 Phone: (250) 387-9599 BC Parks 2009/10 Year End Report Table of Contents Executive Summary page 1 Summary of Key Information page 3 Natural and Cultural Heritage page 7 Management Planning page 9 Protected Lands System page 11 Satisfaction Survey page 13 Highlights & Key Variances page 14 Day Use Trends by Region page 18 Camping Trends by Region page 19 Attendance by Region page 20 Revenue by Region page 22 Attendance and Revenue for Parks with Parking Fees page 24 Park Use Permits page 25 Annual Parking Passes Sold page 26 Annual Parking Pass Revenue page 27 Appendix 1 - Attendance for All Protected Areas by Park Appendix 2 - Revenue for All Protected Areas by Park Appendix 3 - Management Planning BC Parks 2009/10 Year End Report Executive Summary The 09/10 BC Parks Year End Report presents important information related to BC Parks. We encourage feedback on both format and content so that we can continue to improve the document and make it as useful as possible for regions, executive and others who are interested in BC Parks' performance on these key measures. Attendance: BC Parks is committed to increasing the number of recorded visits by 20% from 2004/05 to 2010/11. We are continuing to make improvements in order to meet that target. Last year, attendance at BC Parks slightly increased from 19.6 million to 20.3 million as a result of good weather conditions. Overall, attendance has increased by about 13% since 2004. The Peace region gave the strongest results, with day use attendance up by 35.9% and camping up by 3%. In addition to comparatively better weather in this region, sound data tracking practices led to higher accuracy in visitation counts. Attendance also grew in the Lower Mainland, Okanagan, and Skeena regions. Attendance declined last year in the Cariboo, Kootenay, Omineca, Thompson River, and Vancouver Island regions. The Cariboo region had a significant decline in attendance for Tweedsmuir Park and Bull Canyon Park due to forest fires. The Kootenay region was impacted by late snow melt and rockslides, which caused a decline in attendance for Kokanee Glacier Park. Parking lot closures for capital project purposes were responsible for attendance declines in the Omineca region. Contributing factors to the decreased attendance in the Thompson River include wildfires, campfire bans, and poor fishing conditions. The majority of the decrease for Vancouver Island is due to an overestimate in 08/09 which has been revised for 09/10. Improvements continue to be made in our attendance tracking system, leading to greater quality assurance in the data being reported. Parks which demonstrated a significant real change to visitation are noted on pages 14 to 17 of this report. Many of the changes in attendance were due to factors outside BC Park's control (e.g. weather, flooding, high gas prices) but some notable increases were due to improved facilities and many of the declines are the direct result of construction activities in or near the park. Revenues: In 2009/10 total revenues from recreation user fees increased by about $1.5M. Increased camping revenues in 09/10 accounted for approximately $1.2M of this amount. The difference between the percent increases in camping attendance and camping revenue is due to the fact that parks charging higher camping fees generally experienced greater increases in attendance than those charging lower fees. Day use also contributed to the increase with revenues up nearly $300,000 from 08/09 as a result of better enforcement and increased public acceptance of day use fees. The difference between the percent increases in day use attendance and day use revenue is due to the fact that of the 40 parks that charge day use parking fees, the majority experienced attendance increases. In addition, more reliable parking meters were installed in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, which also contributed to the increase in revenues. The Omineca region saw the largest percent increase in revenue in 09/10 at approximately 20%. Boating revenues declined slightly by 2% in 09/10. Overall, revenue grew in all nine regions of the province in 09/10. Park Use Permit revenues increased by about 19% in 09/10. The Permit Authorization Services Bureau focused considerable effort in improving its data collection practices. Given that their database has been revamped and new permit categorization was used, comparisons between particular types of permits was not possible. Better analysis on this will be performed in future Year End Reports. Recoveries: Recoveries showed a decline between 08/09 and 09/10. This was mainly the result of fewer dollars for Mountain Pine Beetle projects. Page 1 Operating Expenditures: Overall, BC Parks operating expenditures remained stable. Retained fees from contract services increased by about $1.2M due to more revenues being retained by park facility operators because of the increase in camping, boating, and day use group revenues. This amount was offset by a $1.1M reduction in net deficiency payments. Other major variances in operating expenditures occurred under goods and services (an increase of approximately $1.4M) and under fuel management (a decrease of approximately $0.6M). Capital Expenditures: BC Parks reduced their capital expenditures by 37% in 2009/10. This is the result of a significant reduction in land acquisitions and compensation paid for land acquisitions. Expenditures on campground and day use area reconstruction increased in 09/10 by approximately $2.2M. This was offset by a near $2.6M reduction for water and sewer systems spending, which was a priority and had received additional funding in 08/09. The overall total investments in facilities remained stable in 09/10. Natural and Cultural Heritage: BC Parks Natural and Cultural Heritage budget includes funds to be used towards hazard trees and invasive plants. The Natural and Cultural Heritage section also tracks the number of activities that are, or may be causing the degradation or loss of a protected feature. Currently the number of recorded threats is approximately 2,900. About 20% of those are caused by environmentally related processes. Parks and Protected Areas Division and regions are active in reducing or eliminating many of these occurrences. Management Planning: In 2009/10, three final management plans were approved and 31 draft management plans were released for public review. On March 31, 2010 there were 143 management plan projects in progress with 36 in the final stages of development. Across the province, 65.4 % of the areas in the Parks and Protected Areas system have valid management plan direction. This is a slight increase from 2008/09. Protected Lands System: In 2009/10 the British Columbia government passed legislation to establish one new ecological reserve and to add private land acquired by the government to improve park values to three provincial parks. In 2009/10, Bert Brink and Serpentine were also established as wildlife management areas under the Wildlife Act . In 2009/10 the total number of areas managed by BC Parks was 1,240 (including 251 conservation lands managed for fish and wildlife conservation purposes), amounting to over 13 million hectares of land. Satisfaction: PFO performance is slightly down, but continues to stay at a high level as shown by visitor satisfaction ratings which were 78% (index scores rated excellent or above average) in 09/10. The 6% decrease from 08/09 is likely due to a change in survey methodology. Lower response rates, a shorter survey period, and an increased likelihood for unsatisfied campers to fill out an online survey were brought about by this change. Campground visitors remained highly satisfied with the cleanliness of the grounds, sense of security and condition of facilities which received the highest ratings in 09/10. Lowest ratings were given to control of noise and cleanliness of restrooms. Key Performance Indicators: % change 2004/05 2008/09 2009/10 from 2004 Attendance (millions of visits) 18.0 19.6 20.3 13% Recreation User Fee Revenues (millions)1 $ 11.1 $ 14.2 $ 16.0 44% Visitor Satisfaction 80% 84% 78% -3% 1 Day use parking fees implemented in 05/06. Park Use Permit fees are not included. Page 2 BC Parks 2009/10 Year End Report Summary of Key Information Attendance % Visits (in person days) 2008/09 2009/10 Variance Change Day Use Visits 17,067,285 17,532,494 465,209 2.7% Camping Visits 2,365,520 2,519,665 154,145 6.5% Marine Visits 179,757 206,662 26,906 15.0% Total Park Attendance 19,612,561 20,258,821 646,260 3.3% Source: Attendance numbers from Parks Attendance System (data extracted on June 17, 2010) Revenue and Recoveries % Revenue 2008/09 2009/10 Variance Change Camping Fees $ 13,034,708 $ 14,233,341 $ 1,198,632 9.2% Boating Fees $ 296,510 $ 290,655 -$ 5,855 -2.0% Day Use Parking Fees¹ $ 661,603 $ 949,229 $ 287,626 43.5% Annual Parking Pass $ 65,011 $ 69,074 $ 4,063 6.2% Day Use Group Revenues (Picnic Shelters) $ 5,697 $ 6,724 $ 1,027 18.0% Maquinna Hotsprings $ 35,926 $ 34,231 -$ 1,695 -4.7% Film Revenue $ 6,659 $ - -$ 6,659 -100.0% Backcountry Permits $ 5,756 $ 2,484 -$ 3,273 -56.9% Misc Fees and Licences $ 2,674 $ 12,933 $ 10,260 383.7% Sub-total Recreation User Fees $ 14,114,544 $ 15,598,671 $ 1,484,126 10.5% Non-ski Park Use Permit fees (PUPS) $ 966,482 $ 1,200,598 $ 234,116 24.2% Ski hill revenues $ 281,774 $ 288,189 $ 6,415 2.3% Sub-total Park Use Permit Fees $ 1,248,256 $ 1,488,787 $ 240,531 19.3% Total Recreation User Fee & Permit Revenues $ 15,362,800 $ 17,087,458 $ 1,724,657 11.2% Source: Camping, boating and day use group revenues from Parks Attendance System (data extracted on June 17, 2010); day use parking, Maquinna and film revenues provided by Corporate Services Division; other revenues from Financial Data Warehouse.