Indicator 20 – Public involvement

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Note: This indicator will be addressed fully, with detailed information and an assessment, in a future edition of the report.

Public involvement can improve decision-making and reduce conflicts.

The provincial government owns 93% of the province’s land on behalf of the public, and is accountable to manage it in the public interest.
In the late1970s, in response to land and resource use conflicts, public involvement was initiated at strategic and operational planning levels.
By the 1990s, the public was involved at strategic and operational levels in many planning processes, including the Old Growth Strategy, Parks and Wilderness for the 90s, the Commission on Resources and the Environment (CORE), land and resource management plans (LRMPs) and the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act.
Public involvement was an important component of the processes for developing strategic land use plans that covered 80% of B.C. in 2006, and it remains so in the current development of plans for 5% more.
Today, public involvement continues to be intensive in strategic-level processes such as LRMPs, operational plans under the Forest and Range Practices Act and certification processes.
New approaches and methods for enabling public involvement continue to be developed. Examples are model forests, sustainable resource management plans (SRMPs) and forest visualization technologies.

B.C.’s growing population and increasing demands for goods and services from forests (see Protected forests, Timber harvest, Recreation) raise the need for public involvement to ameliorate potential conflicts.
Involvement in land use planning and forest management planning can place considerable demands on the participating public. First Nations are strongly encouraged to be involved (see First Nations involvement).
Management responses include providing opportunities for public involvement (see Law) and access to information (see Knowledge).

Related international and national indicators: MP 7.1.c, 7.2.a, 7.2.b; CCFM 6.4.1


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