Crown Land: Indicators and Statistics - Ministry of Forests

Discussion
Just over half (51%) of the total number of tenures
issued between 2000 and 2009 were in the Peace
sub-region, and 90% of the tenures issued in the
Peace sub-region during this period were for the
energy, and utilities and pipelines sectors. The Skeena
and Cariboo sub-regions tenured the greatest total
area (Table 13).
The Omineca and Thompson-Okanagan sub-regions
accounted for almost half of the total number of
grants issued between 2000 and 2009, at 22.6% and
22.3%, respectively. The Peace sub-region accounted
for 49.1% of the total area granted (32,262 hectares).
Annual tenure and grant dispositions peaked between
2003 and 2006, and subsequently declined. A variety
of factors contributed to these trends, including:
• Strong economic growth in a number of sectors,
notably energy and mining, agriculture and
tourism in the 2001 to 2006 period;
• Major efforts by the former Land and Water BC
(LWBC) government agency, between 2001
and 2003, to eliminate a backlog of tenure and
grant applications;
Additional Information
• General information on Crown land administration in BC.
Available: http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/clad/index.html.
• An LWBC emphasis (based on government
direction and priorities at the time) to proactively
seek out and promote land tenure and grant
opportunities that would yield economic
benefits;
• Campaigns by LWBC to encourage tenure by
commercial recreation businesses that had,
prior to becoming legal tenure holders, been
effectively trespassing on the land;
• Campaigns by the government to expand
resorts and encourage new resort developments,
particularly in the 2001 to 2004 period, and the
establishment of targets to double tourism in
BC by 2015;
• Increased First Nations concerns related to
issuing tenures and grants within traditional
territories, and the outcome of court decisions
reconfirming First Nations’ land rights.
Some of these factors will likely re-emerge in the
future and produce similar fluctuations in demand.
Over the past five years, the government’s priority
to establish a New Relationship with First Nations,
including the completion of treaties and the
establishment of other agreements that recognize
aboriginal interests, has influenced the number of
tenure and grant dispositions made.
• Detailed information on forms of tenures and grants is provided 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.
Ministry of
Forests, Lands and
Natural Resource Operations
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