Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Results — Continued

Goal 2: Maintain and restore the ecological diversity of fish and wildlife species and their habitats.

The ministry has made significant progress in shifting to a model of shared responsibility for maintaining and restoring ecological diversity, fish and wildlife species and natural habitats. This shared stewardship approach is guided by the ministry's commitment to innovative management practices and is promoted through partnerships with First Nations, other government agencies, stakeholders and communities within British Columbia.

Objective 1:

Clear strategies to protect and restore species and their habitats.

This objective, which is key to attaining Goal 2, reflects the ministry's intent to provide certainty for people who must comply with ministry regulations. To provide this certainty, the ministry's objective is to set standards informed by science and clearly identify expectations and required results. Accordingly, the ministry is focusing on the areas described in the strategies below.

Strategies:

1. Reduce prescriptive regulatory requirements to decrease costs to government and industry and implement results-based stewardship.

2. Develop a strategy to provide a long-term vision and action plan for managing and conserving ecosystems, species and their habitats.

3. Work with the public, government and industry to identify, protect and restore species and habitats for the conservation of ecosystems.

4. Provide clear guidelines and standards for appropriate protection and conservation of ecosystems, species and habitats on Crown land outside the protected areas system.

5. Assess and respond to high-risk threats to ecological diversity (e.g., developing the Okanagan Mountain Park fire research framework) and identify opportunities to protect and restore key habitats within the protected areas system.

6. Undertake park management planning to ensure long-term management of conservation and recreation in parks and protected areas.

7. Streamline the Wildlife Act, Park Act and other legislation, including clarifying the designation categories for parks and protected areas and creating a new category to accommodate intensive recreation.

8. Maintain monitoring and reporting on the achievement of standards to manage and conserve species and habitats.

Performance Measure:

To assess its progress toward achieving this objective, the ministry is currently using a performance measure related to the Forest and Range Practices Act (FRPA). The 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan stated that an appropriate measure relating to environmental standards for the FRPA would be developed in 2003/04. The ministry is piloting an output measure to demonstrate its progress in establishing designations and objectives for fisheries, wildlife and water quality under the authority of the FRPA. This measure will indicate the ministry's progress in setting results-based environmental standards informed by science under the FRPA, which will be critical to attaining the desired environmental outcomes. To adequately demonstrate progress, two types of data will be collected: (1) the number of designations and objectives established, and (2) the area of forest land base for which designations and objectives have been established. Initially, information is provided for designations of wildlife habitat areas (WHA) and ungulate winter ranges (UWR). Performance targets are based on expected levels of funding from the Forest Investment Account and are provided only for the number of designations because the size of the areas will depend on the species. Data and targets for other areas, such as significant community and fisheries watersheds, may be provided as data become available.

Benchmark Information: As of March 31/03, there were 129 wildlife habitat area (WHA) designations approved (covering 44,233 hectares) and no ungulate winter ranges (UWR). (Source: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection)

Objective 2:

Improved use of science for the development of standards and for effective monitoring and reporting.

Improving the use of science is a key component in the ministry's work toward attaining Goal 2. Work is being undertaken simultaneously in a number of areas, as identified in the strategies below.

Strategies:

1. Acquire the data, information and knowledge to support an approach to conservation that is informed by science.

2. Implement monitoring and reporting programs to track the status of species and habitats and their responses to management actions.

3. Develop standards and an assessment process to support an approach to the protection of fish habitat in urban areas that is informed by science.

4. Work with private- and public-sector partners to develop environmental standards and best practices for the Forest and Range Practices Act.

Performance Measure:

The ministry is using an outcome measure of the percentage of known native species that are threatened or endangered in the province to track its progress in achieving this objective. Measures of species at risk are used nationally and internationally to indicate the status of biological diversity, which is a commonly used indicator of environmental sustainability, and as such is a key factor in achieving industry, societal and government sustainability commitments. The performance target is to improve on the baseline situation.

Benchmark Information: Marine mammals were added to the threatened or endangered list for the first time in 1999. Some insect groups were added in 2000. Non-breeding species of birds and mammals in British Columbia were added in 2000. (Source: Conservation Data Centre.)

Objective 3:

Increased number of partnerships to conserve species and their habitats.

This objective addresses the ministry's shift from being sole protector of the environment to promoting a shared stewardship approach. Partnerships will be a crucial mechanism in the achievement of this goal. Working on the strategies below will be key to the ministry's success in sharing the responsibility of environmental stewardship with others.

Strategies:

1. Establish and maintain relationships with First Nations, communities, environmental organizations and academia to undertake activities to conserve ecosystems, species and habitats.

2. Provide standards, guidelines, best management practices and encouragement to private landowners to develop and implement sustainable stewardship practices.

Performance Measure:

The 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan indicated that performance under this objective would be assessed using a measure of the "number and value of partnerships" and would be further developed in 2003/04. Initially, the ministry is focusing on measuring its progress in the specific area of establishing collaborative management plans with First Nations. This is an important type of partnership through which the ministry is sharing stewardship responsibilities with First Nations for protected area management.

Benchmark Information: Not available, as this measure was only introduced in the 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan.