Crown Land: Indicators and Statistics - Ministry of Forests

4.4 Land Use Objectives Established under the Land Act
Why is this Important?
Strategic land and resource planning processes may
result in the establishment of legally binding objectives
and designations, including: Parks and Protected
Areas (see Section 4.6, Provincial Protected Areas);
designations established under the Environment and
Land Use Act (e.g. “biodiversity, mining and tourism
areas”); and legal land use objectives enabled under
the Land Act.
This section focuses on legal land use objectives
established under the Land Act. Understanding the
scope and spatial distribution of these land use
objectives is important because forest licensees are
required to develop strategies and deliver results that
are consistent with this legal direction.
Key Statistics
This section includes only legal land use objectives
under Section 93.4 of the Land Act; and legal land
Table 9 Types of Legal Land Use Objectives
Objective Type Objective Description
Agriculture Development
and Settlement Reserve
Area
Ecosystem Based
Management (EBM)
use objectives grandfathered under Section 181
of the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA). All of
these land use objectives are only legally binding for
forestry activities regulated under FRPA.
Land use objectives are established through legal
orders that can apply to landscape units, subregions,
regions, or the entire province. Each legal
order is tailored to meet the needs of a particular
area. A legal order is often used as a mechanism to
legally establish previously approved policy-based
planning direction. Some legal orders can have a
single outcome, such as the restriction of forest
harvesting in specified areas. Other legal orders
can aim for multiple outcomes, and can have many
different objectives identified within them to guide a
range of forestry related activities.
Table 9 describes the main types of legal land use
objectives established under the Land Act.
Establishes forest harvesting restrictions in agriculture and settlement reserve areas in the
Prince George, Vanderhoof, Mackenzie, Fort St James, Robson Valley forest districts.
Establishes cedar stewardship areas and objectives, grizzly management zones, nonspatial
old growth retention targets, biodiversity objectives for red and blue listed species,
landscape unit classifications, riparian and aquatic objectives in Coast Land Use Decision. 56
Multiple Value Includes SLRPs at the regional or sub-regional scale where more than one aspect of
resource management direction is legalized. Objectives may include non-spatial and
spatial old growth retention, scenic areas, visual quality objectives, vegetation cover,
special management zones, wildlife habitat, migration corridors, access management,
non-timber foraging areas, aquatic stewardship, etc.
Old Growth Management
Areas (OGMA)
Provincial Non-Spatial Old
Growth Order 57
Regional Non-Spatial
Landscape Biodiversity
Establishes spatial OGMAs and associated measures. Also used to protect unique or
important forest stands (e.g. Interior Cedar Hemlock OGMAs).
Establishes non-spatial old growth forest objectives across the province, based on
biodiversity emphasis option (BEO) and Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (BEC)
variant within landscape units.
Establishes regional non-spatial old growth forest and biodiversity objectives at the
landscape unit level.
56 EBM objectives for Haida Gwaii Strategic Land Use Agreement are currently under development and are expected to be completed in
fiscal year 2010/11.
57 “Non-spatial” refers to the identification of target amounts for old growth retention without identifying specific areas to be retained
through “spatially” describing old growth management areas, or OGMAs. The Provincial Non-Spatial Old Growth Order applies across
the province; however, any legal orders defining either spatial OGMAs, or regional non-spatial old growth targets, take precedence
over the provincial order.
Ministry of
Forests, Lands and
Natural Resource Operations
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