Legislation is being introduced to establish a new 143-hectare Class A park near the Koksilah River in the Cowichan Valley, rename two parks with Indigenous names, and add more than 2,258 hectares of land and/or foreshore to nine existing parks and one conservancy.
Legislation is being introduced to establish a new 143-hectare Class A park near the Koksilah River in the Cowichan Valley. Used by Cowichan people since time immemorial, the area of the new park includes pockets of old-growth Douglas fir forest, a sensitive grassland ecosystem, rare species of vascular plants, and limestone geological features. Cowichan Tribes have identified the name of the new park – Hwsalu-utsum (whSALA-utsum). To recognize Indigenous connections in two other provincial parks, Chilliwack Lake Park will be renamed Sxótsaqel / Chilliwack Lake Park (Skot-sa-qel), and Newcastle Island Marine Park will be renamed Saysutshun (Newcastle Island Marine) Park (SAY-sut-shun). The proposed legislative amendments to the Protected Areas of British Columbia Act would also add more than 2,258 hectares of land and/or foreshore to nine existing provincial parks and one conservancy.