B.C.'s busiest provincial park is getting a facelift.
Golden Ears Provincial Park's South Beach day-use area is being renovated to create more wide-open areas suitable for picnicking, with new picnic tables, water system, and a new playground for the Alouette Lake campground.
In summer months, the park's day-use area routinely sees more than 5,000 visitors on a sunny day.
"It's a fairly large project," said park manager Stu Burgess of the renovation. "When it's finished, there will be a lot more wide open space for people to picnic."
The redevelopment of the South Beach day use area will feature terraced landscaping, and the removal of a number of trees to create an open lawn area.
In all, the park will see the replacement of 100 picnic tables, as well as new concrete pads and trail paving.
According to the Ministry of Environment, the total capital cost for the project is $200,000. Of that, $30,000 will go towards tree removal, $40,000 for new picnic tables and playground, $60,000 for landscaping, and $45,000 for water system improvements, as well as $24,000 for other costs.
The project got underway earlier this month and is scheduled for completion on Nov. 15.
During construction, the South Beach day-use area and parking lot No. 2 will be closed. The northern portion of the day-use area, directly below parking lot No. 1, will remain open with some picnic tables and pit toilets available.
Golden Ears is the busiest provincial park in B.C., and with 409 campsites spread over three campgrounds, also has the largest campground complex in the province.
While the park covers more than 62,000 hectares stretching north all the way to where it borders Garibaldi Provincial Park, 30 kilometres east of Squamish, the vast majority of visitors only venture as far as southern end of Alouette Lake.