Crown Land: Indicators and Statistics - Ministry of Forests

There are times when particular attributes and services
of Crown land can be shared by both consumers and
producers of goods and services. Examples include
road space, and environmental services such as
scenic areas, public recreation areas, water filtration
and nutrient recycling. In most of these cases, there
are no direct charges for the services provided on
Crown land; yet, it is important to recognize that
some economic sectors in BC, such as tourism and
residential, are highly dependent on the scenic areas,
public recreation and other environmental services
predominantly provided by Crown land.
The estimated dependencies on Crown land in the
public services, utilities and pipeline, and transport
and communications sectors are contingent on
the definition used for Crown land. Because of the
significant role provincial Crown agencies play in
these sectors, it is important to recognize that Crown
land allocated for Crown agencies is often defined as
fee simple (private) land. 15
15 Under the principal definition of private land used throughout
this report (see Section 2.3, Land Ownership in British
Columbia), the land owned in fee simple by independent
provincial Crown agencies is considered private land.
Alternatively, if one considers this as provincial Crown land
then the dependence on Crown land in these three sectors
is higher because of the significant private land holdings
of School Boards of Trustees, Universities and Colleges and
Health Districts, Health Organisations (the SUCH sector),
BC Hydro, Columbia Power Corporation and a number of
transport agencies and commissions.
The estimates in this section are based on information
from a variety of data sources, and expert estimates
from ministry and industry data sources. Detailed
data on the areas of private land used compared to
total land used are only available for the agriculture,
16 and 17
forestry and energy sectors.
Table 5 shows an estimated range of the proportion
of each sector 18 that is directly dependent on all
provincial Crown land (including Crown land
allocated under the Land Act); and the proportion of
each sector that is directly dependent on Crown land
specifically allocated under the Land Act. 19
16 Data on the agricultural sector was obtained from the
Statistics Canada Agricultural Census and BC Assessment
Authority (BCAA); forestry data from the Ministry of Forests,
Lands and Natural Resource Operations (including The State
of British Columbia’s Forests report) and BCAA; energy sector
data was obtained from the Oil and Gas Commission and
GeoBC Geographic Warehouse; and, utilities and pipeline
sector data from GeoBC Geographic Warehouse, BC Hydro
and industry sources.
17 Many estimates of sector dependence on Crown land have
been obtained at the sub-sector level; for example, coal
mining and metal mining rather than mining as a whole. In
most of these cases, the dependence of each sector on Crown
land versus private land has been weighted by the relative
value of these land areas in contributing to the GDP or the
gross returns of the sector; however, in some cases, such
as transportation, environment and public recreation, areabased
estimates are utilized.
18 The sector categories used here are largely aggregations
of categories in the North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS) that are intended to be consistent with
the classifications of purpose and sub-purpose in the Land
Act policies (and the Tantalis database). However, the
“environment and public recreation” sector is not a market
valued industry sector in the NAICS system and traditional
national accounts measures (see Appendix 2).
19 Particular pieces of legislation such as the Forest Act, the Water
Act, the Mining Act and the Parks Act provide for specific
land surface rights that allow clients access to the tenured
resources covered by the legislation. Other tenured surface
uses of Crown land are largely made under the Land Act.
Where businesses require land surface tenures under both the
Land Act and other provincial legislation for the same area of
land, this land is first considered to be associated with the
Land Act. Where businesses only require land surface tenures
under other provincial legislation, such as the Forest Act, then
this is not included in the Land Act estimates.
Ministry of
Forests, Lands and
Natural Resource Operations
33