Introduction

Mission

The Ministry of Forests manages and protects the province's forest and range resources for the best balance of economic, social and environmental benefits to British Columbians, now and in the future.

The Forest Service's mandate is outlined in Section 4 of the Ministry of Forests Act. In summary, it is to:
a) encourage maximum resource productivity;
b) manage resources responsibly to achieve the greatest short- and long-term social benefits;
c) practice integrated resource management;
d) encourage a globally competitive forest industry; and
e) assert the financial interest of the Crown.

This mandate provides the framework for this report and for Forest Service activities as summarized in the following table.

These activities are conducted in cooperation with other agencies to ensure resource stewardship of the provincial forests, which cover 80.7 million hectares of the province. These forests have a tremendous diversity of forest types.

In addition to providing valuable timber, our forests provide British Columbians with clean air and water, recreation, range, wildlife, biodiversity and other non-timber resources. The Forest Service is managing the forests now to consider all these values.

Harvesting occurs on about 200,000 hectares annually, which represents about 1 per cent of the area planned for eventual harvest. This harvest sustains the $16 billion forest sector, which is the main driver of the province's economy and represents about $11,000 for every household.

Rapidly changing societal values require the Forest Service's plans to be flexible to meet its statutory obligations as well as the public's many and often conflicting demands. Accordingly, the Forest Service manages the forest land base in a consultative manner with the public, recognizing the unique role of aboriginal people.

The Forest Service's mission requires it to be one of the most decentralized organizations in the public service. About three-quarters of the Forest Service's approximately 4,800 staff work in 43 forest districts and 6 forest regions. The remaining quarter work in 20 branches in Victoria.

The Forest Service is committed to doing more with current resources. To become more efficient, the ministry has reorganized its structure to increase program delivery capabilities at the district level. The focus of the reorganization was to find efficiencies in headquarters in Victoria and in the regional offices and to reallocate some 200 staff positions for monitoring and enforcement activities in the field.

Another aspect of the reorganization is to effectively include other ministries in field work, such as Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks' staff enforcing environmental provisions of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act.

The Forest Service is examining other ways to deliver services more effectively. For instance, reorganizing fire protection activities to take full advantage of the latest technology (discussed in detail in the "Resource sustainability-Protection" section) will enable the Forest Service to deliver better fire fighting services more efficiently.

The Forest Service is promoting employment equity by identifying and removing systemic barriers to employment. Increased efforts are being made to hire more visible minorities, people with disabilities, women, and aboriginals. Recent successes in increasing aboriginal participation are discussed in greater detail in the "Planned and integrated use-Aboriginal issues" section of this report.

The focus of employment equity is to improve the Forest Service's delivery of services by capitalizing on the diversity in our society.

There are significant social and economic changes occurring in British Columbia, which are having profound effects on forest and range land use management.

Some of these key trends are:

Social

Urban expansion and aging population:


• population growth is putting development pressure on productive forest land
  
• values are changing with aging population and shifting cultural mosaic
  
• urban areas are becoming increasingly isolated from rural concerns.

Expectations of greater social equality:


• disadvantaged groups (aboriginal peoples, women, people with disabilities) want equal access to family-sustaining jobs.

Aboriginal land claims and aspirations:


• judicial decisions and government policies require that land claims be addressed
  
• aboriginal peoples want more involvement in the benefits and responsibilities of forest management.

Interest in recreation and fitness:


• there are increasing demands for forest use as recreational resource.

Environmental

Sustainable development concerns:

• too many demands are being placed on the land base
  
• biodiversity is threatened
  
• forest practices are not sustainable
  
• fish habitat is being lost.

Environmental aesthetic / quality of life, concern with:


• water and air quality
  
• aesthetics of clearcuts

Economic

Industry restructuring and economic diversification:

• mill over-capacity
  
• declining availability of timber globally and domestically
  
• impacts on resource communities
  
• how resource communities will adapt
  
• how industry will restructure
  
• globalization
  
• trade disputes-U.S. softwood lumber dispute; pinewood nematode
  
• how to take advantage of international market opportunities
  
• international image

The greatest challenge the Forest Service and government face is defining a resource management strategy that strikes an acceptable balance between these interrelated and often conflicting trends, while fulfilling statutory requirements.

This report outlines the government's goals in forest and range resource management for the next five years. It is organized by components of the Forest Service's mandate outlined in section 4 of the Ministry of Forests Act.