The Yalakom Park management plan includes the key features and values of the park, establishes priority actions and the management level of the activities, states the relevant levels of use and development, and develop the long-term vision. Additionally, the management objectives for the park are to protect and conserve the it from threats and encourage opportunities and improvements by defining a set of management strategies to achieve the park’s vision and objectives.
The park is 8,941 hectares large, situated near Yalakom River and around 60 kilometres northwest of Lillooet. The park is accessible via the Bridge River Road (Highway 40) and then about 30 kilometres up the Yalakom Forest Service Road which forms the western boundary of the park. The park includes Yalakom Mountain, the whole watershed of Yalakom Creek, a tributary of Yalakom River and Nine Mile Ridge.
Background
The park became part of the Lillooet Land and Resource Management Plan in 2004 and was established as a Class A park by the Protected Areas of British Columbia Amendment Act in 2010. If a park is established as a Class A this means it is committed to the preservation of the park’s natural environment for the inspiration, use and enjoyment of the public. The only development that can take place are the necessary ones that maintain the park’s recreational values. The Lillooet Land and Resource Management Plan writes the importance of the maintenance of the wilderness setting that is natural to the area and ensures that the area is consistent with conservation of California Bighorn sheep habitat and migration routes. For this reason the park management plan follows the Lillooet LRMP as guidelines. Those guidelines are to preserve the area in its natural, undisturbed conditions and grant non-road cultural and recreation opportunities. Moreover, the creation of new roads should not be acceptable and should keep roadless areas undisturbed, there is a development process of plan management for fire and forest pest management. California Bighorn Sheep and Mule Deer managements are being combined with provincial management plans and actions as well as managing California Bighorn Sheep habitat through all the seasonal patterns and outside connections as they should remain undisturbed. There is the possibility to develop backcountry recreation opportunities but this should depend on primary environment, although low levels of recreational use are to be implemented with activities such as hiking, backpacking, hunting and horse use being acceptable. Human presence should only be confined to trails and backcountry camps. Opportunities concerning commercial tourism activities are recognised and cared upon when meeting the park’s interest and acceptable activities include guiding and outfitting and low impact ecotourism uses.
A few tenures are accepted and are administered by the Ministry of Forest, Land and Natural Resource Operation. They include three traplines and one guide outfitter territory authorised under the Wildlife Act.
During the management planning process B.C. Parks turned to the Yalakom River community, government agencies, public interest groups, stakeholders and general public input. They managed to obtained various knowledge and perspectives on values, uses, present and future desired activities, public and commercial recreational use, issues and items needing management attention.
The park is located within the traditional territory of the St’at’mic Nation, Secwepemc Nation and Tsilhqot’in National Government and B.C. Parks will be pursuing ongoing relationship with the First Nations to coordinate common interest and direction for the future management of Bridge River Delta Park.
What do the Protected Areas represent
The park is surrounded by beautiful landscapes and is perfectly secluded for California Bighorn Sheep and Grizzly Bear for example. The park is at the heart of migration routes between adjacent habitats and nearby protected areas, with wildlife routes to and from the Fraser River to the east, Churn Creek Protected Area to the north, South Chilcotin and Big Creek parks to the west.
The park is also a place where the watershed of Yalakom Creek is an undisturbed area and an extensive elevational set of biogeoclimatic variants. The park is also in between two ecosections: Central Chilcotin Ranges in which 31% of it is protected and 2.4% is part of the Yalakom Park, and the Southern Chilcotin Ranges that include 15% of protected area and 1.2% that is part of the park. The park is a migratory corridor for many wildlife such as California Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goat and Mule Deer.
It is very difficult to access Yalakom Park: endurance and determination is essential to hike up to elevation, there are many opportunities for backcountry recreation, hunting, guide outfitting and trapping.
Management Direction
Yalakom Pak continues to be an undisturbed wilderness, with healthy herds of California Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goat and Mule Deer. Visitors find an undisturbed landscape with few signs of human intrusion.
~ Yalakom Management Vision
The first park management objective is to protect habitat throughout the park and keep a healthy wildlife population. In order to ensure this objective is being implemented, the park will be cooperating with land managers to establish adequate habitat suitable for all wide-ranging species. They will also be working on habitat restoration, increase forage for wildlife and the use of prescribed fire to address the retention of ecological integrity in the area. There will be no interference or human disturbances with resident animals or seasonal migratory patterns. The park will partner with fish and wildlife managers to manage Grizzly Bear and California Bighorn Sheep population. There is a plan to develop whitebark pine stands for protection.
The second objective is to create recreational opportunities that can still respect the pristine environment and wilderness experience. Therefore, the park will be implementing low-impact backcountry recreational opportunities which includes activities like backcountry camping, hunting, hiking, mountain biking, backpacking and horse use. Moreover, a monitoring assessment to determine how human activities impact wildlife will be established and prohibiting motorized access in the park.
The park is also part of a zoning plan which signifies a division of the park into logical management units. Those units allow certain activities to take place and a particular set of management objectives apply. It is a physical boundary to separate incompatible activities within the park and helps visitors and managers to get a better visual representation of how the park is managed. The entire Yalakom Park is zoned as Wilderness Recreation to protect the natural undisturbed and remote landscape and provide backcountry recreational opportunities on a pristine environment.
Plan Implementation
B.C. Parks will identify and list the high priority actions in relation to the overall protected area system to determine which action will be implemented first. They will also work hand in hand with the First Nations to establish and develop specific projects in all aspect of park management. They will also look out for funding and partners to implement management strategies.
Two strategies have been developed and ranked high priority to be implemented: to work and cooperate with neighbouring land managers to ensure habitat connectivity for wildlife and minimize impacts within the park and secondary, to keep road access away from park boundaries.
Conclusion
The focus of the Yalakom Plan Management is to protect and conserve the natural biodiversity of the park. In order to be sure that the policies and objectives are being implemented the park staff will make sure that it is managed by B.C. Parks staff on a regular basis.
Protected areas in:
- Evergreen Stewardship Plan for Lillooet Sub Region
- Evergreen Stewardship Plan for South Chilcotin Sub Region
- Source BC Parks. March 2016. Yalakom Park,Management Plan, Final Public Review Draft. Available at : https://bcparks.ca/planning/mgmtplns/lillooet/mp-fprd/yalakom-mp-fprd.pdf?v=1465689783189 [Accessed 03/2021].