In 1938, with the assistance of British Columbia's Chief Forester, Ernest Callaway Manning, Gray began to enact legislation creating provincial parks. Tweedsmuir Park was first, located in the Coast Mountains, and it remained the province's largest park until 1993. Later that year, Hamber Park in the Rocky Mountains was set aside. In 1939, a large park was proposed for the drainage basin of the Clearwater River and, when the Order in Council to establish it was passed, the park was named Wells Gray Provincial Park in his honour. The next park was being planned for the Cascade Range of southern British Columbia and was dedicated as E.C. Manning Provincial Park, after Manning was killed in a plane crash in 1941. Tourists and hikers of the 21st century owe much to the vision of Gray and Manning.
