10 Heffley Lake

About Heffley Lake

Stunning mountains and thick forests surround Heffley Lake. The lake is named after Adam Heffley, a mining prospector who arrived in British Columbia during the gold rush of 1858 (Stewart & Broadfoot, n.d.). Located in the Thompson-Nicola Region of British Columbia, Heffley Lake is easily accessible by road and is approximately 40 minutes northeast of Kamloops, north of Highway 5 (Yellowhead Highway) (Angler’s Atlas, n.d.b).

Heffley Lake was created by building a dam, which caused two lakes to merge (Best Sun Peaks, n.d.a). As a reservoir lake, it can store water and provide irrigation for the surrounding farms and ranches. In dry summers, like in 2017, the water level at Heffley Lake may be significantly lowered; during this time, surrounding ranches utilize the reservoir lake for their water needs.

The lake covers an area of approximately 195.4 ha and has a length of 7 km (Angler’s Atlas, n.d.b; HookedOnBCLakes.com, n.d.). Its maximum depth is around 27, and it can be located on a map at the coordinates 50°50’6.000″ N and 120°3’55.440″ W (Best Sun Peaks, n.d.a; HookedOnBCLakes.com, n.d.).

Heffley Lake is a well-known recreational destination that offers a variety of outdoor activities throughout the year. In the summer, visitors can enjoy swimming, canoeing, kayaking, and other similar activities; in the winter, they can try ice fishing for the elusive Kamloops rainbow trout (Recreation Sites and Trails BC, n.d.b). The lake’s narrowness and abundance of shoreline, featuring multiple islands and bays of various sizes, provide high-quality habitats for a diverse range of fish and wildlife species, including waterfowls (Heffley Lake Community Association, n.d.). Moreover, Heffley Lake is a popular fishing spot and home to sensitive breeding grounds on its shore for different wildlife and waterfowl (Best Sun Peaks, n.d.a; Heffley Lake Community Association, n.d.). Heffley Lake is located near Sun Peaks, its neighbouring resort, and offers visitors stand-up paddle-boarding lessons and rentals (Best Sun Peaks, n.d.a).

Valuation of Heffley Lake

According to an article by Costanza et al. (2014), Heffley Lake provides several ecosystem services. Its primary ecosystem service is recreation and tourism. The lake and the neighbouring Sun Peaks resort offer various recreational activities and services that attract visitors year-round.  Another service the lake provides is water, which is used for flow regulation, with a seasonal creek flowing into Heffley Lake and for irrigation purposes for nearby ranches and farms during dry summers (Stewart & Broadfoot, n.d.). In addition, the lake serves as a breeding ground for wildlife species and waterfowl, providing diverse food for these animals (Best Sun Peaks, n.d.a). The lake’s aesthetic beauty is also an ecosystem service that provides cultural benefits to its visitors. Finally, Heffley Lake offers food production ecosystem service by being home to the Kamloops rainbow trout and other fish species for human consumption.

Figure 8 shows some of the total economic value with use and non-use values provided by Heffley Lake from this research.

Based on data from the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database, the value of lakes is estimated at $23,542/ha/year (Brander et al., 2023). The value of Heffley Lake with this figure is estimated to be $4.6 million (in 2020 USD value) per year. However, this is a conservative estimate as many ecosystem services are not included in the assessment. To properly assess the value of the lake as a natural asset, a discount rate of 1.5% is appropriate, given the increasing demand for these services over time. The value of the lake using this rate is estimated to be USD 307 million. Furthermore, if economic growth is limited due to the intensification of climate change, the asset value of the lake could increase to USD 4.6 billion using a discount rate of 0.1%. The latter valuation is more in line with Indigenous values since they view nature not as a substitute for other forms of capital but as a natural asset and emphasize coexistence and respect between humans and nature.

Strong (2020) reported that Heffley Lake faced challenges in August 2020 due to large crowds exceeding the lake’s traffic capacity during a heatwave. As a result, the local community association and Kamloops Recreation District began to consider managing vehicular traffic. The increased number of visitors also led to increased waste, noise pollution, and theft, particularly affecting those living on the lake. The Recreation Sites and Trails BC division of the Kamloops Recreation District is working to address these issues by developing sites that balance carrying capacity, sustainability, and other locally and provincially available opportunities.

Concluding Remarks

In conclusion, Heffley Lake is a valuable natural asset that provides various ecological services to all its users, including recreation and tourism, water regulation, wildlife habitat, aesthetic benefits, and food production. The estimated value of the lake is significant, surpassing the average cost of real estate within the area. This figure highlights the importance of Heffley Lake and its ecosystems for the current and future generations. It is essential for policymakers to consider the value of Heffley Lake in developing policies that promote sustainability, conservation, and preservation of the lake and its environs.

It should be noted that this study employed the benefit transfer method to assess the value of the ecosystem services provided by Heffley Lake. Nevertheless, to obtain a more precise value for these services, future studies may consider using the hedonic or travel cost methodology and comparing those results with this study. With more research and data available, the importance of the lake’s ecosystem can be emphasized, leading to the development of new policies and the strengthening of existing ones to improve the management and preservation of this natural asset.

Media Attributions

Figure 7: Heffley Lake, Thompson-Nicola, BC by Airbus, CNES / Airbus, City of Kamloops, Maxar Technologies, Province of British Columbia (2023), via Google Maps, is used under Google’s Geo Guidelines.

Figure 8: Breakdown of Heffley Lake’s total economic value by the authors is under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

Figure 9: Canoe by Mike McHolm (2013), via Flickr, is used under a CC BY-ND license.

References

Aanesan, M., Armstrong, C., & Kahui, V. (2010). TEV (total economic value) analysis of a marine environment in Norway. IIFET 2010 Montpellier Proceedings.

Angler’s Atlas. (n.d.b). Heffley Lake. https://www.anglersatlas.com/place/100327/heffley-lake

Best Sun Peaks. (n.d.a). Heffley Lake – lake to swim in near Sun Peaks Resort. https://www.bestsunpeaks.com/heffley-lake.html#:~:text=The%20now%20combined%20lake%20is,other%20hazards%20near%20the%20shoreline.

Brander, L. M., de Groot, R., Guisado Goñi, V., van ‘t Hoff, V., Schägner, P., Solomonides, S., McVittie, A., Eppink, F., Sposato, M., Do, L., Ghermandi, A., and Sinclair, M., Thomas, R., (2023). Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD). Foundation for Sustainable Development and Brander Environmental Economics. https://www.esvd.net/

Costanza, R., de Groot, R., Sutton, P., van der Ploeg, S., Anderson, S. J., Kubiszewski, I., Farber, S., & Turner, R., K. (2014). Changes in the global value of ecosystem services. Global Environmental Change, 26, 152–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.04.002

Google Maps. (2023). [Shows the layout of Heffley Lake in British Columbia] [Satellite Map]. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/Heffley+Lake/@50.8366221,-120.0678172,2580m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x537fb504e08f2d03:0x27be8fe63f3706be!8m2!3d50.8317961!4d-120.0541141!16s%2Fg%2F11cjjhd_41!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu

Heffley Lake Community Association. (n.d.). Welcome to Heffley Lake. https://heffleylake.com/

HookedOnBCLakes.com. (n.d.). Heffley Lake. https://www.hookedonbclakes.com/heffleylake.html

KamloopsTrails. (2015, April 29). Heffley Lake in spring. Kamloops Trails. https://kamloopstrails.net/2015/04/29/heffley-lake-in-spring/

McHolm, M. (2013). Canoe [Image]. Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/fLaZSp

Recreation Sites and Trails BC. (n.d.b). Heffley Lake (Heffley). Government of British Columbia. http://www.sitesandtrailsbc.ca/search/search-result.aspx?type=Site&site=REC1557

Reynaud, A., & Lanzanova, D. (2017). A global meta-analysis of the value of ecosystem services provided by lakes. Ecological Economics, 137, 184–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.03.001

Stewart, I., & Broadfoot, D. (n.d.). Chapter one. Heffley Lake Community Association. https://heffleylake.com/chapter-1

Strong, J. (2020, August 31). Heffley Lake stakeholders grapple with increased popularity. Sun Peaks Independent News. https://sunpeaksnews.com/heffley-lake-stakeholders-grapple-with-increased-popularity/

Long Descriptions

Figure 8 Image Description: A sideways tree diagram showing the breakdown of total economic value with examples from Heffley Lake. Starting on the left side, Total Economic Value is broken down into Use Values and Non-Use Values. Use Values can be further divided into Direct Use Values and Indirect Use Values. For Direct Use Values, Heffley Lake examples include recreational fishing (rainbow trout), irrigation for agriculture, recreation and tourism, cultural, and wildlife consumption. For Indirect Use Values, Heffley Lake examples include maintaining populations and habitats, regulation services (e.g., water flow), and aesthetics. Back to Non-Use Values, they can be further divided into Existence Values, Future Option Value, and Bequest Value. For Existence Values, Heffley Lake examples include satisfaction of knowing the resource exists and cultural existence. For Future Option Value, Heffley Lake examples include recreational options provision. For Bequest Values, Heffley Lake examples include future generations (preservation and conservation). [Return to Figure 8]