Creating a "Natural Asset": British Columbia's First Park, Strathcona, 1905-16

Abstract

Following the creation of national parks in Canada and the United States in the late nineteenth century, the Province of British Columbia established its first provincial park, Strathcona, on Vancouver Island in 1911.Alarmed by the extent of logging activity, particularly on Vancouver Island, and motivated by the need to support a fledgling tourism industry and attract investment, park proponents in BC evoked the language of economics to argue for the provincial protection of scenery, while also promoting railway and road development in order to access relatively remote areas.In doing so they commodified, or gave economic value to, standing trees, waterways, wildlife and mountains and called for the preservation of scenery for the viewing pleasure of the travelling public.