Ministry defends record, saying extra cash just isn't there

"Despite its declared intentions and clear vision to conserve the ecological integrity in British Columbia's parks and protected areas, the Ministry of Environment is not successfully meeting this goal," John Doyle said in the 23-page document.

Among other recommendations, the report called for the ministry to fill in the current gaps in the parks system, to better manage conservation efforts and to conduct better annual planning at each of the province's estimated 1,000 parks to address specific objectives and threats.

The audit also found that officials need to better protect B.C.'s ecology from threats such as the public, invasive species and nearby logging and land development, especially in "Class A" protected areas, which can only be used through preservation activity.

Fewer than half of all Class A parks and only one-quarter of all ecological reserves have a management directive or plan, the report found, while, of the managements plans that do exist, many are outdated.

Pinecone Burke Provincial Park, north of Maple Ridge, is home to old-growth forest, recognized wetlands and grizzlies, frogs and great blue herons.

No management plan is in place for this park, which suffers damage from recreational use and invasive species, the report said.

New Democratic Party environment critic Rob Fleming said it's disturbing to read that the province's protected areas are in such poor shape, especially as B.C. Parks plans to mark its 100th anniversary next year.

"It speaks to a lack of interest or commitment to parks and the betrayal of their promise to make B.C. parks the best in the world," Fleming said.

The Ministry of Environment, in its response included in the report itself, said that any request for improvement "must be weighed against society's increasing demands in health care and education, and against other environmental challenges."

Implementing Doyle's recommendations "would create an enormous fiscal challenge."

B.C.'s parks budget has been falling steadily over the past three years.

Joe Foy, national campaign director of the Wilderness Committee in B.C., praised the auditor-general's recommendations, saying parks are proven to be good returns on tourism investments.

"We need more funding. We also need more parks," Foy said. "It's goofy to be not doing a good job to protect them and to expand on them."