Part B: Integrated Land Management Bureau — Continued

Strategic Context

Vision, Mission and Values

Vision

Exceptional client services concerning Crown land, resources and information that support a vibrant B.C. economy.

Mission

Our mission is to provide client-focused, high quality, integrated Crown land and resource management and information services to British Columbians.

Values

The bureau's values are consistent with and enhance the government-wide corporate values. These value statements shape and guide development of our strategies, our decision-making and the daily work of each staff member. They also form the foundation of our client-focused mission.⁵

Planning Context and Key Strategic Issues

Issues and Trends

Crown land and related resources are a major contributor to the economic, social and environmental health of the province. Ninety-four per cent of the provincial land area is owned by the Crown. Access to these resources is a key economic driver and determinant of social well-being, particularly in rural communities. The utilization of Crown land and resources is intertwined with the province's history, economy and social fabric. The preservation of their ecological integrity and the achievement of a sustainable balance between development and preservation are of critical importance.

International market demands for natural resources, particularly energy resources, are currently high and are forecast to remain high through the next year at least. In addition, there are specific North American market demands for provincial land and water resources that are expected to endure. As a consequence, there is likely to be a continuing opportunity for the bureau, through the planning process, to facilitate the release of Crown land for economic uses, to generate substantial economic investment and wealth for the province. Correspondingly, demands for the bureau's access services are likely to be high as long as their timeliness, accuracy and accessibility remain high.

The government has identified some new areas of focus in its five golden-decade goals. The newly created bureau is well positioned to deliver on these and, in particular, job creation and sustainable environmental management.

Supreme Court of Canada decisions concerning First Nations consultation and accommodation will continue to have a major influence on the bureau. Through its land-use planning and related responsibilities, the bureau will have a large involvement in the implementation of the government's new relationship with provincial First Nations.

Front Counter BC – Natural Resource Opportunity Centres

Regional clients for natural resource access and information services, outside the provincial government, have indicated a need for single-point-of-contact services to ensure full disclosure of the steps and costs they face, to reduce runaround times between agencies and to streamline the application process. In a pilot study in the Kamloops region, 72 per cent of such clients expressed this need.

Interviews in the Kamloops study with representatives of related government organizations in other jurisdictions have identified clear benefits from single-point-of-contact services (SPCS) to both clients and to government. Benefits to government include enhanced reputation as "business friendly"; streamlined measures that reduce government costs and frustrations; reduced time that regulatory agencies have to spend responding to general enquiries; and economies of scale and scope from having SPCS staff experienced in translating technical information into plain language for clients.

Species-at-Risk Coordination

The challenges of managing provincial biodiversity and species-at-risk cut across all sectors of the provincial resource economy — forestry, oil and gas, tourism, wildlife harvesting, First Nations relations, international trade — and affect B.C.'s ability to attract and support investment.

Many of the provincial efforts to date have been driven by federal species-at-risk legislation, advocacy campaigns or regional opportunities to address species-at-risk issues within broader land and resource decision-making processes. Additionally, many broader biodiversity policies and processes lack coordination and resources and often operate independently of recovery management planning for species-at-risk.

Land-Use Planning

The completion of strategic and more detailed land and resource-use plans continue to be of strong interest to First Nations, industry sectors, businesses and individuals wanting to access resources and/or protect the ecological integrity of specific areas.

There are six strategic-level plans currently at various stages of negotiations with First Nations — Lillooet, Central Coast, North Coast, Morice, Sea-to-Sky and Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands. Supreme Court of Canada decisions concerning First Nations consultation and accommodation have had a major influence on the completion of these plans. Target dates for their finalization were extended in late 2004/05 to provide increased time for these government-to-government negotiations.

The government has also increased the priority for reviews of some existing land-use plans as a consequence of two factors: public consultations during 2004 concerning the value of land-use planning, and the potential obsolescence of some plans due to the impacts of natural events such as mountain pine-beetle infestations. First Nations consultations and the development of recovery plans for species-at-risk may also lead to the revision of existing plans.

Land-use plans increase certainty of access to Crown resources. As well, they confirm new protection areas which help safeguard the natural diversity and recreational features of the province. BC has been a world leader in creating new protected areas, having doubled the amount of parkland in the last decade, and will continue to be recognized internationally for protecting pristine areas of the province.

Resource Information

Businesses, individuals and the various levels of government have a continuing need and demand for reliable access to relevant land and resource information and related services to support informed, science-based decision making. Information content, service quality and information access through self-service tools are key attributes of this demand. Clients need to be confident with information content — namely, the quality and relevance of the information supplied. They also need to be satisfied with the assistance they receive when requesting data and information. Finally clients need to be satisfied with information content and access available through self-service applications.

Opportunities and Challenges

Opportunities

• Improved service to clients through "single-point-of-contact services": understanding clients and communicating that understanding to ministries. The bureau's Front Counter BC – Natural Resource Opportunity Centres will result in:

— More timely resource-use decisions resulting in greater certainty for investors, a higher probability of investment and a stronger economy;

— Reduced duplication of information requests resulting in less running around by clients from agency to agency;

— Full disclosure of requirements, process steps and costs, and hence more informed applicants, better business proposals and a more attractive investment climate

— Reduced duplication of government efforts;

— Higher levels of satisfaction with government agencies dealing with natural resources and possibly higher levels of confidence in government process;

— Better resource-use proposals from clients resulting in a higher probability of timely and positive resource-use decisions with less adjudication effort; and

— Better access to, and use of, the considerable resource data and information that the provincial government has available.

• New relationship with First Nations. There are real needs and opportunities to improve relations and achieve reconciliation with First Nations and, in so doing to improve the well-being of First Nations and non-First Nations alike in British Columbia.
• New resource developments. Through on-going land and resource-use planning, streamlined access to government services, new relationships with First Nations and better prioritization and coordination of species-at-risk management and recovery, there are considerable opportunities to improve access to, and sustainable development of, Crown land and resources. This will lead to jobs and more sustainable communities while protecting environmental integrity. For example, Front Counter BC – Natural Resource Opportunity Centres will be able to provide land-use planning information to prospective tenure holders about areas likely to be heavily constrained or competed for as a result of environmental or other values, speeding tenuring processes and reducing client costs.
• Improved priority setting and coordination concerning the management and recovery of species-at-risk. The bureau has been tasked with coordinating development of a single, science-based approach to the management and recovery of those species-at-risk in B.C. that are part of the province's complement of globally significant species.

Challenges

In working to capitalize on these opportunities, the bureau faces a number of challenges and will be giving high priority to the mitigation strategies identified below:

• Setting appropriate service quality targets and expectations with clients and ministries. The bureau's clients for its Natural Resource Opportunity Centres are external to the provincial government. However, it delivers most of these services on behalf of a number of sponsoring ministries which will act as a governing board for the bureau.⁶ At the same time it depends on these ministries to undertake adjudications in a timely manner on the allocations of tenures, permits, licences and grants to client applicants.⁷ The bureau is therefore giving high priority to the development of service agreements with each of these ministries, including service performance targets which will be tracked, reported and responded to on a regular basis.

  The bureau also has provincial and non-provincial government clients for its resource information and species-at-risk coordination functions, and clear understandings and agreements with these clients will be fostered.

• Managing/prioritizing client demands and increasing resourcing as we successfully expand client services. It will also be critical to the bureau and its sponsoring ministries to be able to obtain additional resources to meet increases in client demand — or to set priorities and ration client access to bureau resources if additional resources are not obtained. The bureau and ministries will be giving close attention to the development of priority-setting mechanisms and agreements concerning resources in their service agreements.
• Developing and maintaining a shared culture of client service with sponsoring ministries. This is an extension of the first challenge. A shared, client-centred culture will also be critical to the success of the bureau and its sponsoring ministries — not only for the achievement of adequate turnaround times on adjudications, but also for the maintenance of effective support at Executive level from the sponsoring ministries for the bureau's goals and objectives. Positive action through training, staff exchanges, co-location and other strategies between the bureau and ministries will be important to ensuring that ministry management and staff become more, rather than less, attuned to external client needs.
• Establishing an effective relationship with First Nations consistent with new government policies and the bureau mission of more efficient delivery of client services. An effective relationship with First Nations not only has many positive benefits (see Opportunities), but will also be critical to achieving to the bureau's client service and land-use planning performance measures.
• Ensuring the bureau's staff resources are sufficient and fully trained, and its information technology resources are adequate to support the delivery of excellent client services. The bureau has been staffed from the former Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management and Land and Water British Columbia Inc. It will take focus and effort to develop a common, client-centric culture and compatible, adequate information technology systems.