Crown Land Use Planning Enhancement Program

Administered by: Ministry of Agriculture and Lands
Program contact: Allan Lidstone, Telephone (250) 387-8372

The Crown Land Use Planning Enhancement (CLUPE) Program has been established to augment the province’s strategic land use planning program. Strategic land use plans are completed for areas across the province to resolve land use conflicts and establish a system of broad land use zones and objectives for resource management within those zones. This set of zones and objectives guides resource management and use and helps to identify economic opportunities within the plan area. Strategic land use plans are developed by key stakeholders and, wherever possible, First Nations in the plan area. First Nations who do not directly participate are consulted to get their input on resource use in the interim until treaties can be settled. The province’s planning program also includes preparation of landscape/watershed level sustainable resource management plans. These plans further refine the broad objectives from strategic land use plans by providing more detailed objectives to guide industry and agency activities in a plan area.

CLUPE funds are allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands (MAL) regional offices annually in accordance with their anticipated needs and are managed along with base budget funds to achieve the following planning objectives:

CLUPE investments will assist First Nations, local governments, stakeholder organizations, and interested members of the general public to participate meaningfully and effectively in planning processes that decide forest land use priorities and objectives for their regions and communities.

CLUPE investments will, through integrated planning processes, define the results that Crown forest land users will be expected to achieve over time. Clear and measurable objectives for forest resources are essential for enabling cost-effective implementation of the Forest and Range Practices Act.

CLUPE investments will be used, in part, to assemble essential information for planning, through:

1. acquisition and integration of resource inventory information (that is not readily available through standard resource inventory programs), and
2. evaluating options and implications using appropriate analytical methodologies, and
3. scientific research needed for supporting planning decisions.

These investments will help to ensure that planning decisions are as informed and balanced as possible.

CLUPE investments will be used, in part, to implement, monitor and evaluate land use plans-to ensure that commitments made in plans are being acted-upon, and to assess the overall effectiveness of plans, as part of the cycle of continuous forest management improvement.

CLUPE funding is instrumental in assisting with implementation of three regional land use plans and 17 approved sub-regional land and resource management plans (LRMPs). The funds are also crucial to supporting planning currently underway, including completion and approval of four LRMPs and preparation of a number of sustainable resource management plans.