Pitt Meadows: Metro Vancouver’s network of regional parks has grown with the expansion of a protected wetland near Pitt Meadows, B.C.
Bill Dingwall, the mayor of Pitt Meadows, says 56 hectares have been added to Codd wetland ecological conservancy area, which is not yet open to visitors.
He says the property had been zoned for rural residential development but is now protected after the Metro Vancouver regional district purchased the land for $7.4 million last year.
Dingwall says plans are underway to manage public access, while certain ecologically sensitive areas will remain off limits.
Sav Dhaliwal, the Metro Vancouver board chair, says use of regional parks has exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He says the parks that usually see 11 to 12 million visitors each year had already attracted more than 14 million as of the end of October, a 37 per cent increase.
The Canadian Press