Who owns the parks: Township, City, Metro Vancouver or Parks Canada?

Langley’s green spaces have four different landlords. The trail you walk at Campbell Valley, the playground at Douglas Park and the lawn outside the palisade at Fort Langley all answer to different people, under different rulebooks. That’s why the dog rules seem to change every time you cross a parking lot.

The four owners

Metro Vancouver. The regional district runs 24 regional parks, and its brochure places six in Langley: Aldergrove, Brae Island, Campbell Valley, Derby Reach, Glen Valley and South Langley. Aldergrove’s own brochure gives its location as “Abbotsford / Township of Langley”, so it straddles the line. South Langley, Metro Vancouver says, links Campbell Valley and Aldergrove.

Parks Canada. Fort Langley National Historic Site, at 23433 Mavis Avenue, is federal. It is open daily 10 am to 4:30 pm, closed December 24, 25, 26 and 31 and January 1. Admission is $10 for adults and $8.50 for seniors; youth are free. Parks Canada also lists a free-admission period that ran June 19 to September 7, 2026.

The Township. Most of the parks you drive past in the Township are municipal: Williams Park at 68 Avenue and 238 Street, Willoughby Community Park in the 7700 block of 202A Street, and the off-leash parks. The Township says standard park hours are usually dawn to dusk.

The City. Langley City counts 17 parks, from Douglas Park at 206 Street and Douglas Crescent to City Park on 207 Street between 48 and 51 Avenues, plus Penzer, Brydon and Linwood.

We looked for a BC Parks provincial park in Langley and didn’t find one, but we couldn’t confirm that from a provincial list, so check bcparks.ca if it matters to you.

Who writes the rules

• Metro Vancouver: the Regional Parks Regulation Bylaw No. 1420, 2025. Its park officers include RCMP officers, and fines run from $50 up to $50,000.
• Township: the Public Spaces Regulation Bylaw No. 6059 and the Animal Control Bylaw No. 6140. Its ticket schedule lists $100 for a dog off leash outside an off-leash area, $100 for a dog on a sports field, and $150 for using a park when it’s closed.
• City: the Parks and Public Facilities Regulation Bylaw No. 3048. Parks close dusk to dawn, and anyone inside after hours is treated as a trespasser.
• Parks Canada: federal rules and the site’s own policies.

Dogs

This is where the differences bite.

• Regional parks: leashed unless you’re in a posted off-leash or leash-optional area. The leash can be no longer than 2.5 metres, you have to carry one even off leash, keep the dog in sight, and leash up right away near horses. Off-leash areas are at 4 Avenue in Campbell Valley, at Edgewater Bar west of the Derby Reach campground, and in Aldergrove’s northeast corner off Lefeuvre Road. Brae Island and South Langley are leash-only, and dogs are kept out of Aldergrove’s Nature Discovery Area.
• Township parks: dogs are welcome on a leash, never on sports fields, with six designated off-leash areas (Bertrand Creek, Walnut Grove, Noel Booth, Old Yale, Routley and Yorkson).
• City parks: leashed, except in fenced, signed off-leash areas at Brydon, City Park, Linwood and the 18-acre Uplands park. Dogs also stay out of ponds and fountains.
• Fort Langley: leashed outside the fort walls, and not allowed inside the walls, the Visitor Centre or the historic buildings.

Every spot is listed on our off-leash page.

Horses, hours and parking

Horses go only where Metro Vancouver posts that they can. At Campbell Valley riders use the Shaggy Mane Trail and unload at the Campbell Downs Equestrian Centre; at Derby Reach the Houston Trail is shared with walkers. South Langley has hitching posts at its entrance. City parks are off limits to horses under Bylaw 3048.

Most regional parks in Langley open at 7 am, close at a posted time no earlier than 5 pm, and lock their gates after. Metro Vancouver’s fee schedule charges for parking at only three parks (Pacific Spirit, Belcarra and Lynn Headwaters), none of them in Langley. At Fort Langley the EasyPark lot at the end of Mavis Avenue is free for up to four hours if you register your car at the Visitor Centre after buying a ticket.

The table

Park	Owner	Dogs	Report a problem
Campbell Valley	Metro Vancouver	Leash; off-leash area at 4 Avenue	604-530-4983
Derby Reach	Metro Vancouver	Leash; off-leash at Edgewater Bar	604-530-4983
Aldergrove	Metro Vancouver (with Abbotsford land)	Leash; off-leash off Lefeuvre Road	604-530-4983
Brae Island	Metro Vancouver	Leash at all times	604-530-4983
South Langley	Metro Vancouver	Leash at all times	604-530-4983
Glen Valley	Metro Vancouver	Check posted signs	604-432-6200
Fort Langley NHS	Parks Canada	Leash, outside the walls only	604-513-4777
Williams Park	Township	Leash	Township Report a Problem
Willoughby Community Park	Township	Leash, not on sports fields	Township Report a Problem
Douglas Park	City	Leash	City Request for Service
City Park	City	Off-leash dog park on site	City Request for Service
Uplands Dog Off Leash Park	City	Off leash, fenced	City Request for Service

Who to call

For anything urgent or unsafe, call 9-1-1. Otherwise, regional park conditions go to the East Area Office at 604-530-4983, and Fort Langley questions to Parks Canada at 604-513-4777 or [email protected]. The Township’s Report a Problem page has a parks, trails and trees category, and for emergencies lists 604-532-7300 on weekdays and 604-543-6722 after hours. The City takes park requests through its online Request for Service form or the Operations Centre at 604-514-2910.

For the bigger picture of which Langley runs what, see City vs Township: who does what. Park-by-park details are on our pages for Campbell Valley, Derby Reach, Aldergrove, Brae Island, Glen Valley, Williams Park and Fort Langley National Historic Site.

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