Jackman Flats Park is 10 kilometres north of Valemount on Highway 5, close to Mount Robson Park. BC Parks describes it as a landscape shaped by ice and wind, where post-glacial sand deposits created an ecosystem considered unique in British Columbia.
Rare plant communities and shifting sand-dune structures are the park's defining features.
Jackman Flats Park is a small place with unusually high ecological interest. BC Parks says lichens are among the park's most prominent residents, and one plant community, Juniperus-Stereocaulon, is found nowhere else in British Columbia.
Visitors come for birdwatching, plant identification, short walks, longer hikes through sand-dune terrain, horseback riding on designated trails, hunting during open seasons, and cross-country skiing. The Valemount Cross-Country Ski Club track-sets winter trails. The park lies within the Upper Fraser Trench ecosection. Robson Valley residents have long enjoyed the area.
The park is vulnerable to recreation damage. Unregulated motorized use has harmed rare plant communities and dune structure in the past. BC Parks now emphasizes staying on designated trails, collecting nothing, and keeping people and domestic animals off fragile areas.
Plan around designated-trail hiking, lichen and plant observation, birdwatching, sand-dune photography, horseback riding only on designated trails, winter cross-country skiing, track reading in sandy areas, and seasonal hunting where open.
Summer drought conditions are common. Stay on existing trails to protect fragile lichens and dunes. Do not collect or damage natural objects, and remember this dry ecosystem can be seriously harmed by shortcuts or off-trail travel.
