The BC Parks Licence Plate Program is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and has succeeded well beyond the initial expectations.
The program was launched in 2017, and offered B.C. drivers the opportunity to purchase one of three distinctly British Columbian scenes: a Kermode bear in the Great Bear Rain Forest; the Purcell Mountains; and Porteau Cove. Joanna Linsangan of ICBC media relations told the Journal in 2019 that they did not know what to expect when the plates went on sale, as there was nothing to compare them to.
“We expected to sell 37,000 plates by 2022,” she says. “We sold more than 100,000 in almost 18 months.”
That 2022 date is now here, and last week the Province announced that during the past five years more than 300,000 speciality BC Parks licence plates have been sold, generating more than $20 million in total revenue for the program, including funding for more than 300 diverse projects and programs in conservation, Indigenous reconciliation, engagement, education, and inclusion, as well as fire-based ecosystem and land management to further protect and enhance B.C.’s world-renowned parks system. The projects have involved more than 200 community partners and more than 70 First Nation partners.
In the Thompson-Cariboo region, the licence plate program has helped fund monitoring of Steelhead trout, a fuel management plan and implementation at Green Lake, interpretive trails at Big Bar Lake, grassland and wetland monitoring at Tunkwa Lake, and more. The funds have also been used to support the Student Ranger program, which allows up to 48 youth to get hands-on outdoor experience in BC Parks each year.
With more people visiting provincial parks, the Discover Parks Ambassador Program is becoming increasingly important, and is an example of the many projects supported by the licence plate program. Piloted in 2020 through a partnership between BC Parks and the BC Parks Foundation, the ambassadors can be seen in parks throughout the province, connecting people with nature and providing education about how to be safe and responsible in the outdoors.
Other initiatives supported by the licence plate program include wildlife inventories, Indigenous interpretive programs in parks, wildfire fuel mitigation, managing invasive species, educational materials for children and families, and restoration of wetlands, coastal bluffs, and other sensitive ecosystems.
All net proceeds from the sale and ongoing renewals of BC Parks licence plates are reinvested into provincial parks through the Park Enhancement Fund, a special account where revenues enhance programs or services in provincial parks beyond the core services provided by government. There is no projected end date for the BC Parks Licence Plate Program.
A full report about the first five years of the BC Parks Licence Plate Program and the projects it has supported is available online at www.bcparks.ca/licence-plates.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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