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| Original News Release |
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| Original News Release |
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Introduction: The government of British Columbia has committed to establishing a Working Forest land base to provide greater stability for working families and to enhance long-term forestry management and planning. A public discussion paper released in January 2003 elicited feedback from several First Nations, communities, stakeholder groups and members of the public. Government has reviewed the feedback and has held further discussions with communities and key stakeholders. The Province is now confirming a new policy direction for the Working Forest that will address the issues raised. 1. The Working Forest policy guides land use in the Provincial Forest The Provincial Forest covers approximately 75 million hectares of forested and non-forested Crown lands. That designation will remain. The permitted uses in the Provincial Forest – as set out by legislation and regulation – include timber and forage production, recreation and a range of compatible uses including quarries, communication sites and transmission lines. It would still require authorization from the Minister of Forests to facilitate the sale of Crown land to a municipal government, or designate land as a park or protected area under a land and resource management plan or other process. The sale of Crown land to private interests for timber production is prohibited under the Land Act. 2. The Working Forest policy builds on existing land use plans. Using approved and locally developed land use plans, area objectives will be developed to enhance and expedite further forest planning and offer substantial improvement to land base certainty for the forest sector, the tourism sector and other interests. Significant time and effort on the part of government, First Nations, communities, environmental groups, resource and tourism interests and other stakeholders has gone into development of strategic land use plans in British Columbia. Eighteen land use plans are in place and another six are nearing completion. The plans reflect the balance and social choices made for a range of uses of Crown land and resources in each area. The plans establish the boundaries of parks and other protected areas. The remaining areas are open to a range of potential uses.
3. The Working Forest policy creates area use objectives that reflect the land use priorities of each plan. Using these approved plans, net timber area objectives for forestry access within the forested portion of Provincial Forests will be defined by government, in consultation with First Nations, communities, and key stakeholder groups. These objectives will be clear goals that state how much of each area is expected to be available over the long term for forestry. Objectives for other values including tourism and conservation will also be captured and reflected in this process. Net timber area objectives will be expressed as a percentage of the total land base accessible for commercial forest harvesting and the proportion set aside for a suite of conservation purposes, such as managing old growth, biodiversity, wildlife management, species at risk, visual quality and riparian zones. Summary: The Working Forest policy incorporates and respects other initiatives that enhance security and competitiveness for BC’s forest industry through:
Under the Working Forest policy:
For more information, visit the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management website at: http://srmwww.gov.bc.ca/rmd/workingforest/ online. -30-
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