WHEREAS in British Columbia, there are residential developments that are currently in existence that abut livestock range areas, resulting in livestock entering onto residential properties; AND WHEREAS the Crown collects fees for grazing leases, but does not provide fenced, defined range boundaries to contain the livestock: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the provincial government to assume the responsibility of fencing the existing agriculturalresidential interface to protect ranchers from economic hardship through loss of livestock, and residents from damage caused by livestock entering onto their property.
Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations The Province recognizes that livestock are authorized to graze adjacent to many communities throughout BC and that effective barriers do not always exist between residential and range agreement areas. The Livestock Act is the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture. This Act encourages landowners who live in livestock districts to fence their property, should they want to prevent access by livestock authorized to graze under the Range Act. Private land in BC is substantially smaller in area than Crown land and is unevenly distributed throughout the Province. As such, fencing out all agriculturalresidential interfaces would require thousands of kilometers of infrastructure and a significant budget for installation and maintenance. The Province works towards an integrated solution that is operationally sound and builds on the achievements made by government staff, the public and industry. For example, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is reinforcing Land Title Act provisions for developers to fence rural subdivision properties when they border Crown land with authorized livestock grazing. The Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations encourages the livestock owners to include provisions within their operational plans to mitigate livestock movement into towns and cities. There are also many examples where multiple partners have coordinated efforts to install and maintain infrastructure in problematic areas.