WHEREAS many owners of private managed forest land are planning for its sale for residential and commercial development rather than committing to long-term forest production; AND WHEREAS the land is under valuated by BC Assessment: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the provincial government be called upon to review the method of land valuation of private managed forest land intended for development and to impose a duty on owners of private managed forest land to consult with the local government in which the land is located.
Ministry of Community, Sport Cultural Development The method of calculating managed forest land assessments produces values based on the lands tree growing capability. Similar to assessments for farm land, this value is not influenced by other market forces. These reduced assessments are a benefit of this classification and are provided to help encourage long-term, sustainable forestry management on private land while maximizing the social, environmental and economic benefits of those practices. Property owners in this class have an obligation to provide good resource management practices, such as reforestation, care of young trees, protection from fire and disease and sound harvesting methods. If an owner of private managed forest land wants to withdraw from its management commitment, it must give written notice to the Private Managed Forest Land Council of its intention to withdraw its land from this commitment. Unless exempted by regulation, or under specifically prescribed circumstances, an owner must pay an exit fee when the property is removed from managed forest land class. The amount of the exit fee is set out in the Private Managed Forest Land Regulation. The exit fee is intended to encourage long-term participation in the Managed Forest Program. The exit fee applies to lands that have been assessed as managed forest land for less than 15 years and is calculated based on the difference between actual property taxes paid, and what the property taxes would have been had the property not been assessed as managed forest land for example residential class, with a discount related to the number of years as managed forest land class.