Crown Land: Indicators and Statistics - Ministry of Forests

Discussion
The residential, agriculture and related activities, and
manufacturing and commercial sectors accounted
for 88.7% of the total Crown grants issued between
2000/2001 and 2008/2009. Agriculture and related
activities accounted for 85.5% of the area granted.
While the permanent disposition of Crown land
through Crown grants is common in certain sectors, it
is uncommon in other sectors, such as energy, mining,
forestry, and utilities and pipelines. Together these
three sectors accounted for only 1% of the number
of grants issued, and 0.5% of the area granted.
Additional Information
Crown grants for the residential sector, and
agriculture and related activities sector, make up the
majority of both the number and the area of grants
issued in the majority of sub-regions.
Crown land sales may be initiated by a client-driven
application or by the identification of opportunities
by authorizing agency staff, or by the direction of
government where it serves a strategic initiative. Due
to the transfer of rights that accompany a grant, the
benefits that accrue from awarding a grant must be
weighed against the loss of public control of the land
and the scarcity of the resource. When evaluating a
proposal to sell Crown land, the following factors are
considered:
• Direct and indirect benefits;
• Compatibility of the intended use with the results
of provincial and other planning processes;
• Impact of the sale on adjacent land and
resources;
• Support for emerging or strategic priorities; and
• The costs and benefits of potential future
opportunities associated with the land.
First Nations are consulted prior to proceeding
with any proposal to grant or tenure Crown land.
Crown land may be considered unavailable for
grant (or tenure) based on the nature and extent of
interests, and the nature and extent of impacts that
are identified through consultations with affected
First Nations.
• Information on forms of Crown land allocation is available in the policy document Land Policy: Form of
Crown Land Allocation.
Available: http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/clad/leg_policies/policies/crown_land_allocation.pdf
• Information on Crown land policies in BC.
Available: http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/clad/land_prog_services/policies.html
• Information on Crown land sales policy is provided in the policy document Strategic Policy: Crown Land Sales.
Available: http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/clad/leg_policies/policies/land_sales.pdf
Ministry of
Forests, Lands and
Natural Resource Operations
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