Natural Areas Trails Strategy

Spring 2022 —  Community input 

Thank you for taking our survey and sharing your perspectives to help us shape the future of trails in natural areas. Your input will be considered along with our background research and analysis for this project.

Read our Initial Engagement Report

Phase 1: We are engaging the community to learn more about key community values, ideas, and opportunities for planning and managing natural area trails in the District.

Phase 2: We will consider key themes we hear through the initial engagement – along with background research and best practices analysis – to help us develop the draft strategy. Towards the end of Phase 2, we will provide opportunities to provide input on the draft strategy.

Phase 3: The strategy will be presented to Council for consideration.

Phase 4: Should Council approve the strategy, we anticipate using the final Natural Areas Trail Strategy to guide development of local-area trails plans for Seymour, Fromme, and Lynn Canyon areas. We anticipate further opportunities for engagement during this phase. 

The District manages the largest area of municipal parkland of the municipalities in the Metro Vancouver region. Part of District parkland includes large natural areas of mountainside forests, creeks, rivers valleys, and canyons.

The District’s natural areas trail network is a valued asset within the community for a wide variety of outdoor recreation, social, and health and well-being interests.

Policy context

The District’s goal is to apply an active and adaptive management approach to its natural areas that balances recreational uses with environmental protection.

The Official Community Plan (2011) contains objectives for natural parkland that include protecting environmentally sensitive lands, habitats and wildlife, and providing trail opportunities for walking, hiking and cycling.

The Parks and Open Space Strategic Plan (2012) provides direction to balance environmental protection with recreational management for the District’s natural areas.

The map below generally shows the natural areas managed by the District and identifies the study area for the Natural Areas Trails Strategy: Fromme, Lynn Canyon, and Seymour. It is approximately 2,200 hectares. These areas are not continuous as there are several land managers of natural areas in the District..

Fromme: The Fromme area is north of neighbourhoods around Mosquito Creek to upper Lynn Valley. It borders on Metro Vancouver’s Lynn Headwaters Regional Park to the east.

Lynn Canyon: The Lynn Canyon area includes Lynn Canyon Park, which is west of the Lynn Valley neighbourhood and borders on Metro Vancouver’s Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve to the east.

Seymour: Natural areas in Seymour managed by the District include north of the Blueridge neighbourhood between Metro Vancouver’s Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve to the west and CMHC Federal land to the east; the mountain forest area between CMHC (Federal) land to the west and Mount Seymour Provincial Park to the east; adjacent to the Deep Cove and Indian Arm neighbourhoods.