British Columbia has made changes to the Park Act and Ecological Reserve Act, improving enforcement to stop people from committing environmental crimes in provincial parks, protected areas, and ecological reserves.

Some penalties will go up to as much as $500,000.

Administrative penalties are financial penalties that can be used to address a wide range of violations, such as cutting down trees, feeding wildlife, dumping waste and operating a guiding business without a permit.

The penalty can be scaled to address the severity of the violation.

For instance, illegally feeding wildlife will carry a maximum penalty of $25,000, while more serious crimes, such as dumping toxic waste, could carry the highest amount of $500,000.

Last year, changes were made to the Ecological Reserve regulation to enable compliance and enforcement measures in ecological reserves, so people conducting illegal activities can be prosecuted or fined.

Under the previous regulation, BC Parks lacked the ability to impose penalties on people and companies that disobey the law in sensitive ecosystems.

To learn more, visit Government of British Columbia.