Whereas road infrastructure, the lifeline to many coastal communities, is not under the care and control of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, but rather entrusted to profit oriented industry; And whereas funding levels driven by stumpage and royalties are no longer adequate to sustain and maintain coastal road infrastructure to community use standard as expected by the travelling public: Therefore be it resolved that the British Columbia provincial government be required to re-evaluate stumpage rates and apply an increased operating budget to support additional maintenance funding for forest roads accessing communities to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations who is responsible for many of these coastal community lifelines.
Ministry of Forests, Lands Natural Resource Operations Public safety is a government priority, and the Province remains committed to supporting a legislative and regulatory framework that encourages workers and the public to use resource roads safely. We are developing a Natural Resource Roads Act, which aims to streamline and modernize our approach to the management and administration of resource roads. In times of industrial inactivity, and under exceptional circumstances, the ministry may provide discretionary supplemental maintenance on permitted roads serving communities, rural residents, or high-value recreation sites. Maintenance activities will vary according to the road priority ranking and risk rating analysis. The Zeballos Forest Service Road, as one example, has received over 5 million in capital improvements in the past five years.