The Five-Year Forest and Range Resource Program meets the legislative requirement to outline the Forest Service's objectives to improve the province's forest and range resource.
The Forest Service's goal is to deliver the government's comprehensive plan to protect the province's forest jobs and forest ecosystems, and to balance the economic, social and environmental needs of all British Columbians. To accomplish this goal, the Forest Service is focusing on the following six objectives:
The Forest Renewal Plan was announced on April 14, 1994. It provides a framework for a long-term investment strategy for British Columbia's forests and forest sector that is both economically and environmentally sustainable. The BC Forest Renewal Act, passed in June 1994, establishes a new Crown agency, Forest Renewal BC, with a dedicated source of revenues from increases in stumpage and royalty payments to invest in the future of British Columbia's forests. Forest Renewal BC's permanent board of directors was appointed in December 1994, with membership reflecting a partnership of the many interests in British Columbia's forest sector. The board is now developing a comprehensive investment program for 1995/96 to invest up to $250 million into the province's forest resources.
The priorities for Forest Renewal BC in implementing the Forest Renewal Plan are:
These goals will be achieved by:
The Forest Service, as chief steward for B.C.'s publicly owned provincial forest, will work closely with Forest Renewal BC in implementing the Forest Renewal Plan's priorities. In 1995/96 the Forest Service will deliver over $100 million of renewal projects on behalf of Forest Renewal BC in the area of road and hillslope restoration, enhanced forestry, inventory and research activities. These activities will be in addition to normal Forest Service activities in these areas. Related Forest Service responsibilities will include carrying out its obligations under the Forest Practices Code for overseeing work in the forests, and implementing policy changes associated with the Forest Renewal Plan.
To realize the partnership envisioned in the Forest Renewal Plan, the Forest Service will work with industry, labor, communities, environmental and aboriginal groups using new approaches to forest management.
The Forest Service's task is to manage the public's forests on behalf of the people of British Columbia. The best way to do that is to fully involve all British Columbians in the management of their forests, and to build on the partnerships being developed through the Forest Renewal Plan.
The Forest Sector Strategy Committee, using the expertise of its members, will recommend a long-term strategy to lead the forest sector into the next century. The social and environmental needs of all communities will be publicly considered in establishing new harvest levels and these concerns will also be considered as part of the land allocation process under Land and Resource Management Planning (LRMP).
Forest Renewal BC will provide more funds to encourage value-added manufacturing to create jobs in forest communities. To increase remanufacturers' access to wood supplies, the Forest Service will initiate a Remanufacturing Supply Initiative to facilitate value-added processing. In addition, the Forest Service will continue to make more timber available to small manufacturers through the Small Business Forest Enterprise Program and through the expansion of the woodlot program. Forest Renewal BC will also assist new manufacturers by providing more training for forest workers to take advantage of the latest technologies in value-added manufacturing.
To help move the province away from long-standing resource use conflicts, the Forest Service has provided support to the government's efforts to create greater certainty over regional land use by helping the Commission on the Resource and Environment (CORE) planning processes and by implementing the government's final decisions. The Forest Service has also been working with other ministries in helping develop LRMPs and this process will create regional land use certainty for those areas of the province not covered by CORE.
Another output of these regional land use planning processes is a secure future for both our environment through the Protected Areas Strategy, and our commercial forests through the Forest Land Reserve. The Forest Land Commission will manage lands under the Forest Land Reserve.
Aboriginal rights and aspirations are important factors in forest management. The government's goals are to address First Nations' land claims, meet the government's legal obligations to aboriginal peoples and establish a healthy working relationship between the Forest Service, First Nations and affected third parties.
Forest land is one of the most important issues in negotiating land claims; therefore, the Forest Service plays a critical role in supporting the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and the Treaty Commission as the province enters into the negotiation of treaty settlements with various First Nations. The negotiation of comprehensive treaties will build a new relationship with First Nations as well as clarify the nature and extent of First Nations and provincial ownership and rights associated with Crown land and forest resources.
While negotiating fair treaty settlements, the province must also address its legal obligations to First Nations and build a healthy working relationship between the Forest Service, First Nations and affected third parties. To do that, the Forest Service has developed a policy on aboriginal rights and will continue to encourage aboriginal joint ventures, develop Memoranda of Understanding with First Nations about management of the forest in their traditional territories, and consider the First Nations Forestry Council's strategic plan to increase aboriginal participation in the forest sector.
The importance, scope and complexity of the Forest Practices Code and the Forest Renewal Plan have required the Forest Service to ensure that existing resources are placed in areas where the efforts of staff are maximized in support of the Forest Service's critical resource stewardship mandate. This has resulted in a need for the ministry to become more efficient and reorganize its structure to increase program delivery at the district level.
The Forest Service is in the process of shifting some 200 staff positions from headquarters and regional offices directly to district offices. Additional positions will be added to ensure that the stringent requirements of the Code will be met. In addition, the Forest Service is developing a new relationship with the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks to ensure that forest use is effectively policed so that all forest values are protected.
