B.C. Day is an opportunity to enjoy everything that our beautiful province has to offer. Enjoying the natural scenery is a perfect way to celebrate what our province is known for and stands for as well as to lend support to those fighting to keep B.C. beautiful.
As small as it may seem, visiting local parks is a crucial step in conserving the natural landscape around us. Using these public spaces reinforces the need to have these areas available to the public and serves as a safe haven for wild populations in the area. Even places like local parks can be extremely valuable for endangered species such as the Western painted turtles and Oregon spotted frogs. When visiting local parks, please remember to stay on the designated paths as the species that do rely on these parks can be very sensitive to overcrowding and trampling of their ecosystems. On that note, while you’re visiting the B.C. Park’s website, look into the B.C. Park’s license plate program! This program directly contributes to the Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies and has been a major contributor to the success of the recovery efforts.
While some parks, like Joffre lakes and Garibaldi, require day passes to use them, there are still many parks that don’t use the day pass system. Day passes are intended to limit the impacts we have on these beautiful parks so that we can continue to enjoy the parks for years to come, but they can make it difficult to enjoy if you haven't planned weeks ahead. Lesser visited locations, like Campbell Valley Regional Park and Minnekhada Regional Park, haven’t adopted the day use pass system and are beautiful locations for an impromptu stroll. Take a look at the B.C. Park’s website to find a good match for you to visit this year!
If parks aren’t the vibe for the day and you want to take a stroll through the 120 acres of the Greater Vancouver Zoo, then make sure to visit the Spotlights, Creature Features, and Conservation Corner to learn more about what conservation is happening, here in B.C., and across the globe! Spotlights are a new take on the classic Keeper Talks and spotlight five animals every day. Creature Features are insightful and interactive chats with our education staff that change daily, so keep an eye out as we are on animal time and do require some flexibility.
Between 1 and 3pm every day, make sure to visit the Conservation Corner, located next to the cougars and pelicans, to learn from the conservation biologists themselves! The conservation biologists actively work with recovering the populations of Western painted turtles, Oregon spotted frogs, and Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies. Swing by to learn more about their amazing work and even get a tour of the work being done in that area of the zoo!
