The Summer 2011 edition of BC Studies (#170) is a theme issue devoted to the history of British Columbia’s provincial parks. Co-edited by Ben Bradley and Jenny Clayton, it was inspired by the centennial of BC’s first provincial park, Strathcona Park, which was established in the mountains of central Vancouver Island in 1911. The issue contains an introduction that outlines the history of the provincial park system, a sixteen-page photo essay, and articles by Paula Young, Ben Bradley, Phil Van Huizen, Jenny Clayton, and Arn Keeling and Graeme Wynn. Support from NiCHE made it possible to add several special features, including colour images in the photo essay and maps by UBC cartographer Eric Leinberger.
The theme issue reflects the growing scholarly interest in the history of parks in Canada – a trend spurred by the rise of environmental history. We particularly hope that this theme issue, in conjunction with events like the 2008 Canadian Parks for Tomorrow conference and last year’s NiCHE-supported New Perspectives on Parks workshop, will encourage further research on Canada’s provincial parks, which have received a fraction of the attention that the national parks have. More details, including ordering information, can be found by following this link: http://www.bcstudies.com/issues.php
I just read through the TOC and abstracts and the issue looks fantastic. I highly encourage NiCHE readers to get a copy of this special issue. Fantastic job and congratulations to Ben, Jenny, and the other authors.
One promising thing is that there are enough people working on the history of BC’s provincial parks right now that you could probably put together another theme issue on the same topic.
There are still a ton of other stories that need to be told about provincial parks — not only in BC, but also in other provinces!