BC has the sixth largest park system in the world, but many of those parks, nature trails, terrestrial and marine protected areas were once privately owned.
In 1995, Jedediah Island, which sits beside the much larger Lasqueti Island, was purchased from Al and Mary Palmer, owners of the island since 1949.
Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park wasn't established until 1973 and Princess Louisa Marine Provincial Park was protected in the mid-1960s.
"I think a lot of the protected areas in BC have been through citizens who come together to form groups and alliances [such as land trusts] then bring those issues forward," said BC Parks Foundation executive director Andy Day. "We work with private landowners to close land acquisition deals that have resulted in approximately 114,600 hectares of land that is now protected green space."
Day said the foundation has worked with private landowners on the Sunshine Coast and a few years ago, 800 hectares of land was protected in Princess Louisa Inlet. It is considered one of the first crowdfunded parks in the world.
Crowdsourcing is a way to raise funds, usually online, from as many people as possible, usually in a short window of time.
Savary Island Nature Trust, for example, has protected 43 per cent of the island using crowdsourcing methods.
"Some landowners donate the land in whole, some donate a portion, and then some will sell [their private land] at market value, but there's usually some conservation motivation or consideration that's given," said Day. "Then, on the funder side, we work mostly through crowdfunding."
Day said since the organization made its first land purchase five years ago, he's been amazed at the level of support from the public.
"I was blown away by the support from British Columbians," said Day. "About 95 per cent of BC is Crown/Indigenous land and five per cent is private, so a lot of the biodiversity is in those private areas."
Day said the consensus from scientists is that governments need to protect a minimum of 30 per cent of an area in order for the integrity of that ecosystem to continue to function and work.
"A lot of the privately owned land is where people want to be, and where the animals are, such as waterfront, lakefront estuaries and rich pasture lands," said Day.
He added that the group is active on the Sunshine Coast and announced in August a number of significant properties it has successfully acquired in the Smuggler Cove and Secret Cove areas.
"We currently have a few more projects we're working on, which I can't talk about yet, but we're definitely active in the [qathet region] area," said Day. "People get in touch with us and tell us about areas that are important to their community; that's the wonderful part, [our foundation] is very grassroots driven."
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