Whereas local communities currently have no legal avenue for providing input into forest land cutting permits before they are approved and issued by the Province; And whereas communities are often impacted by harvesting and log hauling, with environmental impacts, visual impacts, road safety issues and little economic benefit: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM ask the Province to give local governments a legislated avenue for providing input before cutting permits for forest licensees and woodlot tenure holders are approved and issued by the Province.
Ministry of Forests Greater input from local governments on forest management is important for the Province. In 2018, the Government initiated a multi-year, multi-phase legislative process to improve the Forest Practices and Range Act FRPA. The FRPA improvement initiative is proposing changes to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Nations by enhancing their participation in forest and range management, improve information sharing in forest planning, provide more frequent and reliable opportunities for communities to engage in forest planning and adapt resource management to changing land base and values. Two Bills have resulted from the FRPA improvement initiative: the Forest and Range Practices Amendment Act, 2019 Bill 21 and the the Forest Statutes Amendment Act, 2021 Bill 23. With the introduction of Bill 21, the Province of BC has enabled the Forest Operations Map FOM. Once in effect, the FOM will require Major Forest Tenure Holders to make their planned cutblocks and roads available for public review and comment. Soliciting public feedback before applying for a cutting permit or road permit will become a legal requirement. With Bill 23, the Province of BC has introduced the new Forest Landscape Planning FLP framework, a tactical level plan where the input from local communities will be sought and must be reflected in the plan. In the new framework, the Forest Operations Plan FOP requires public input on proposed forest management operations related to cutblocks and roads within an FLP. Further to this, decision-makers have discretionary authority to reject the FOP if there has been insufficient consideration of community input by forest licensees. The implementation of the tactical level FLP and associated operational level FOP is underway and will phase in over the next several years.