The Impacts of Climate Change on Tourism Operators, Trail Experience and Land Use Management in British Columbia’s Backcountry

Abstract

Climate change, natural resource industries, and an expanding outdoor tourism sector have recently increased access to sensitive backcountry environments in Western Canada. Trail managers are struggling to manage trail conditions with the mounting effects of smoke, dust, fire, flood, area closures, and beetle outbreaks in their regions. Outdoor recreation trail managers are linking these events and are thinking critically about the history and interconnectedness of land use management decisions in the province of British Columbia (BC). As the effects of climate change continue to challenge both trail managers and sport recreationists, guides and trail associations have been identified as key education facilitators in the development and dissemination of environmental consciousness. Guided by a community-based participatory research approach, this study used personal interviews with trail managers across the province to highlight how a connection with local ecosystems can develop a more robust land ethic for recreational trail user communities in BC.

Keywords

• climate change
• land use management
• outdoor tourism and recreation
• environmental education