Crowd-management plan rolling out for Joffre Lakes Provincial Park

Days ahead of what is sure to be another frenzied long weekend for visitors clamouring to see the park's famed blue-green lakes, the B.C. government has announced a new plan for crowd controlat Joffre Lakes Provincial Park.

In a statement Tuesday, the province said B.C. Parks has worked with the Lil'wat andN'Quatquanations to develop a control plan that tackles public safety concerns and recognizes the Indigenous cultural and natural values of the park.

Located less than 45 minutes from the village of Pemberton, the park has become one of the busiest in the province. Trails take hikers up through forests and meadows to three cyan lakes below glacier-laden rocky peaks.

On the busiest summer days, visitors arrive at the trailheadparking lot to findcars clustered togetherlike a colony of bees swarming the same scant honeycomb.

Hikers along the trail often have tosqueak past an oncoming assembly line of people and the dusty lakefront can come toa standstill, foot traffic backed upwith groups waiting to take their photo with the quintessentially British Columbian view.

In short, it can be a bit of a zoo a melee that has grown to becomea management problem for the province.

"We're well aware of the concerns that have surfaced around people parking along the highway and the need to manage visitor use in the park," said Jenny Aikman, regional director for the South Coast region of B.C. Parks.

"Use in Joffre Parks has increased exponentially ... To provide a safe and enjoyable visitor experience, there's a need to putstrategies in place to deal with the growth," addedAikman, who's been to the park "a few times" during peak times herself.

In Tuesday's statement, the province said parking lotswill be expanded with 200 more spots and a shuttle service will begin ferrying people between Duffey Lake Parkto the Joffre Lakes trailheadin an effort to reduce the crush of vehicles at the main lots.

An emergency satellite phone will also be installed at the trailhead for safety.

Vehicles illegally parked along Highway 99 will be towed under a new compliance plan, which comes into effect this weekend. The highway links the park to Pemberton and the shoulder is often linedwith cars, bumper-to-bumper, when the JoffreLakes lots fill up which happens daily in the summer.

Two First Nations stewards will also begin working alongside B.C. Parks rangers at the park. The pairwill educate visitors about the value of the landsand work on park management and facility maintenance.

B.C. Parks said number of visitors to JoffreLakes has soared 168 per cent in the last nine years. Around 183,000 people visited the park last year, whichworks out out to an average of more than 500 people every day.

Dogs and other pets were permanently banned from the park in May 2018 to protect the environment and surrounding area. The province also made reservations mandatory for all overnight campers at JoffreLakes as of April 2019.

Aikmansaid visitors who plan to go to Joffre during the summer, especially during weekends, should come prepared for a hike and come early to get a parking spot.