Council members in Clearwater will be meeting with BC Parks early this year to talk about the future of Wells Gray Provincial Park.

Mayor Merlin Blackwell says it’s overdue to have a look at how the park operates, and look at what new and modern-day park users expect in their visits.

“We’re talking more than 400,000 visitors per year now, and it really hasn’t had a plan of any sort since 1986, which was the last time a Wells Gray master plan was done. And that was written on a typewriter.”

Public consultation for the future of Wells Gray Park happened in the fall, and a 10-year plan will be published in May.

Blackwell talked about some of the public feedback that he’s heard about what the park needs.

“The feeling is generally things like restoration of interpretive programs, restoration of trail systems, maybe expansions of parking lots in places like Lower Falls, which are overrun already beyond capacity. So it was good opportunity, sort of a once-in-20-year-opportunity to look at that.”

He says the number of visitors to the park is growing by about five per cent each year.