The Spruce Lake Protected Area, formerly known variously as the Southern Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park, Southern Chilcotins, and also as South Chilcotin Provincial Park, is a 71,347-hectare Protected Area in the British Columbia provincial parks system, approximately 200 km north of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. The area had been the subject of an ongoing preservationist controversy since the 1930s. In 2007, its status as a

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to the ...

was downgraded to protected area. Recreational activities in the park included hiking, cycling, swimming, fishing and hunting, and there were walk-in wilderness camping sites. Wildlife in the protected area include

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

, California

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of Ovis, sheep native to North America. It is named for its large Horn (anatomy), horns. A pair of horns may weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates th ...

and

wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

. In June 2010, Bill 15 created the South Chilcotin Mountains Park, a "Class A" park of 56,796 hectares, from Spruce Lake Protected Area. The remaining approximately 14,550 hectares were set aside for

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

, but commercial

Background

The area was designated as a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

by the

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

provincial government in 2001, and then established as a Provincial Park by then-Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection

Joyce Murray Joyce Catherine Murray (born July 11, 1954) is a Canadian politician who represented the riding of Vancouver Quadra in the House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party from 2008 until 2025. She was re-elected in the 41st, 42nd, 43rd, ...

in 2004, with the new park's boundaries including 70% of the protected area and permitting limited resource extraction in the remaining area on the protected area's periphery. The protected area designation resulted from the Lillooet Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP), which attempted to address local community, environmental, recreation and resource interests. Even though it is not in the

Chilcotin District The Chilcotin () region of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lee of the C ...

proper, the area has been called the "South Chilcotins" since about 1980, when a group of conservationists started to promote the area for protection as a park. The South Chilcotin name is derived from its geographic position in the Chilcotin Ranges, into the

Bridge River Country The Bridge River Country is a historic geographic region and mining district in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, lying between the Fraser Canyon and the valley of the Lillooet River, south of the Chilcotin Plateau and north of the Lillo ...

where the park is located. Bert Brink, one of British Columbia's most renowned naturalists, advocated for the conservation of this area for over sixty years and lived to see it become a park before he died in 2007.

Location and topography

The protected area was located on the inland lee of the

Pacific Ranges The Pacific Ranges are the southernmost subdivision of the Coast Mountains portion of the Pacific Cordillera. Located entirely within British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada, they run northwest from the lower stretches of the Fraser River to B ...

of the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains () are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the British Columbia Coast, Coast of British Columbia sout ...

, on the north flank of the

and the Chilcotin Country to the north. It adjoined Big Creek Provincial Park and Tsʼilʔos Provincial Park, which bordered it on the north and northwest, respectively. Part of the larger subrange of the

known as the Chilcotin Ranges, the area was partially protected in the 1990s after 60 years of debate and controversy.

First Nations history

Historically this region was the hunting territory of Chief Hunter Jack of the Lakes Lillooet, whose big-game hunting business shared the region with hunters of the Tsilhqot'in people. The shared use of the area north of the Bridge River and Gun Creek was part of the settlement of an early 19th-century peace which had ended a long and bloody war between Hunter Jack's people and the Tsilhqot'in. Trails from the

led over the region to Taseko Lake and Chilko Lake in the Chilcotin Country, and also east across the

Camelsfoot Range The Camelsfoot Range is a sub-range of the Chilcotin Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia. The Fraser River forms its eastern boundary. The range is approximately 90 km at its maximum length ...

to the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

near Big Bar.

Controversy

The area was the object of a protracted quarrel between preservationists and resource development which first began in the 1930s when prospectors and guide-outfitters dedicated to its natural beauty proposed it for preservation status. Charlie Cunningham, whose career as a wildlife filmmaker began in this area, was a driving force in the original movement for preservation. The Charlie Cunningham Wilderness proposal was revised in the 1970s as the Spruce Lake-Eldorado park proposal, and also as the Spruce Lake Management Planning Unit, but as land-use plans impinged on the proposed park area these names were abandoned. The area's unique and distinct landscape and ecology, different from the rest of the Chilcotin Ranges or the

, made it stand out for protection amid a region already wild and extremely beautiful before

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckshydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

development transformed the valley to the south. Many environmentalists hope that the creation of Tsʼilʔos and Big Creek Provincial Parks will help shore up the protection of the South Chilcotin Provincial Park which remained vulnerable to government review. Hunting guide Ted (Chilco) Choate of Gaspard Lake, on the

Chilcotin Plateau The Chilcotin Plateau is part of the Fraser Plateau, a major subdivision of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Plateau is physically near-identical with the region of the same name, i.e. "the Chilcotin", which lies between ...

, has joined in the call to combine all three parks, plus the Churn Creek Protected Area to the northeast, as well as some of the surrounding country and the deep, much higher heart of the

, into a

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

. Industry and government remain publicly committed to shared use and sustainable planning.

Notes

External links

BC Parks - Spruce Lake Protected AreaChilcotin Ranges entry in the Canadian Mountain EncyclopediaAerial view of Spruce Lake and (R) Eldorado Mountain
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Randall & Kat's Flying PhotosAerial view of Spruce Lake
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Randall & Kat's Flying Photos
{{British Columbia parks Bridge River Country St'at'imc Tsilhqot'in Chilcotin Ranges Year of establishment missing