5 Pinantan Lake

About Pinantan Lake

Pinantan Lake is situated approximately 33 km northeast of Kamloops through Highway 5 and Paul Lake Road (Travel British Columbia, n.d.). In the traditional Aboriginal language, Pinantan means shoe or moccasin, which the lake was named after due to the lake’s shape (“Pinantan Lake,” 2023). The lake is around 68 ha in size, with a surface area of 12 ha (British Columbia Adventure Network, n.d.b). It has an average and maximum depth of 10.6 m and 18.5 m, respectively.

Some activities that can be done in the lake are swimming, kayaking, and canoeing during summer (Travel British Columbia, n.d.). It is also popular for fishing, specifically the rainbow trout. Outdoor activities are also available within the vicinity due to the rich wildlife. During winter, the lake is frozen, but fishing is still manageable. Harper Mountain is also within reach for skiing, snowboarding, and cross-country skiing.

Valuation of Pinantan Lake

Costanza et al. (1997) have summarized 17 ecosystem services. Figure 2 shows data on the value of ecosystem services lakes provide using the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD) (Brander et al., 2023). We can clearly infer that the most important service for lakes would be the opportunities for recreation and tourism at approximately $1,481,992. Following this, but not close enough, is the existence, bequest, and aesthetic value at $96,696. The least valued ecosystem service would be providing raw materials, water, and food at $22,236. This clearly shows that people value the lake more through its direct use and non-consumptive value rather than its existence value and indirect use, as seen in Figure 2.

The values are derived from studies conducted in Canada, the US, and the UK. The average value per hectare per year across ecosystem services is $78,804. Meanwhile, the median is lower, as it is not influenced by outliers, at $57,726. Lastly, the most conservative value is $23,542 after removing values based on one or two studies. These prices are multiplied by the number of hectares of the lake to get Table 1.

Table 1: Total Value of Pinantan Lake Ecosystem Services

Note. Calculated using data from Table I in the Introduction. See Table A for a full breakdown

The conservative value of Pinantan Lake would be approximately $1,600,856 per year using the Total Economic Value without maintenance that we have in Figure 2. This figure also states that people using Pinantan Lake value fishing, kayaking, and other recreational activities at around $1,481,992 per year, which is its direct use and non-consumptive value. The ecosystem services flow occurs every year; to find the value of the lake as a natural asset, we will use 1.5% and 0.1% social discount rates. The former assumes that the demand for and value of these ecosystem services increases at a rate of 2% per year; however, this rate is discounted at the social discount rate of 3.5%, which is standard for assessing public projects in Canada. The latter assumes no increasing standard of living and an egalitarian view between the current and future generations. The value of the lake at the 1.5% discount rate is $106.7 million; at 0.1%, the lake is valued at $1.6 billion.
“Without Pinantan Lake, there would be no community.” Using the BC Assessment (2023) website and comparing 111 lakefront properties in Lake Pinantan, the total value (building and land) of these properties is approximately $61,504,200 at 22.1 ha, constituting $2,790,077 per hectare. Notably, the lake is priced into the land value rather than the building. The lake value can be thought of as the difference between the lakefront and non-lakefront properties with a total value average difference of $713,490 per hectare, a land value average difference of $712,523 per hectare, and a building value average difference of $967 per hectare. Such a difference in land value could imply that people value the lake at approximately $712,523 per hectare or a total value of $3.23 billion and $48.5 billion (1.5% and 0.1% social discount rates, respectively). The value of the lake, even at the higher social discount rate, is 1.7 times the value of the lakefront properties; if the lower discount rate is used, the lake is 26 times higher than the value of the lakefront properties.

Table 2 shows a summary of the value of lakefront versus non-lakefront properties at Pinantan Lake.

Table 2: Value of Lakefront and Non-Lakefront Properties at Pinantan Lake

Note. Adapted from BC Assessment (2023)

Table 2 clearly shows that people see the value of PinantanLake as much higher than their land properties. Without Pinantan Lake, there would be no community. The community settled there because of the lake.

Concluding Remarks

Pinantan Lake is a marvelous place for recreational activities such as, but not limited to, fishing, kayaking, and swimming. People value the lake based on its use or non-use value, but the former has a higher value due to the previously mentioned recreational activities. Unfortunately, there is a low perception of value for the consumptive use and regulation activities of the lake, such as animal habitat, cleaning the air, and providing water. On the other hand, the value of this lake is higher than that of its land counterparts. We hope that after this information is disseminated to the public, the value lakes provide will be appreciated more. All lakes have been helping sustain life in general.

Appendix

Table A: Value of Pinantan Lake Ecosystem Services

Skip Table A

Note. Calculated using data from Table I in the Introduction.

Media Attributions

Figure 1: “Pinantan Lake” by KamloopsTrails is used with permission.

Figure 2: “The value of Pinantan Lake per year (US$ 2020 PPP) using the Modified Median of ESVD” by the author is under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

References

BC Assessment. (2023). Property assessment information. https://www.bcassessment.ca/

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/

British Columbia Adventures Network. (n.d.b). Pinantan Lake. http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/explore/high_country/pinantan/pinantan.htm

Costanza, R., d’Arge, R., de Groot, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K., Naeem, S., O’Neill, R. V., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R. G., Sutton, P., & van den Belt, M. (1997). The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature, 387(15), 253–260. https://doi.org/10.1038/387253a0

KamloopsTrails. (2014, July 2014). Pinatan Lake. Kamloops Trails. https://kamloopstrails.net/2014/07/31/pinantan-lake/

Pinantan Lake. (2023, January 26). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pinantan_Lake&direction=prev&oldid=1145398097

Travel British Columbia. (n.d.). Pinantan Lake. BC Lodging & Campgrounds Association. https://www.travel-british-columbia.com/thompson-okanagan/kamloops-country/pinantan-lake/