Performance Reporting — Continued

Goal 3: Provide park and wildlife recreational services and opportunities to British Columbians and visitors.

In the 2002/03 – 2004/05 Service Plan, the objectives set by the ministry for this goal focused primarily on the provision of park, fish and wildlife recreation opportunities. Reflecting recent shifts in the ministry's strategic approach, the objectives in the new Service Plan are stated as outcomes. Those outcomes concern the quality of recreational opportunities provided to users and the optimization of the contribution of park, fish and wildlife recreation to the province's economy. In response to the revised objectives, new performance measures have been developed, focused on assessing the quality of the ministry's client service and the amount of economic contribution being generated by outdoor recreation.

The information presented below describes the achievements and challenges associated with each performance measure used in last year's Service Plan for this goal. Each performance measure is linked to the ministry objective it assesses, and the rationale for the choice of each measure is explained.

Objective: Hunting, Angling and Wildlife Viewing Opportunities — Manage/allocate fish and wildlife for angling, hunting and viewing, and provide wilderness recreation opportunities.

The 2002/03 – 2004/05 Service Plan identified the following strategies for this objective:

• Provide hunting and angling authorizations, based on known population data, and deliver wilderness recreation management.
• Develop new funding and management approach for fish hatchery operations by mid-2003.
• Develop Web-based hunting and angling licensing services by mid-2004.
• Undertake a comprehensive review of hunting and angling administration by mid-2004.

Performance Measures

Client satisfaction with fish and wildlife recreation opportunities

Performance Measure	2002/03 Target	2002/03 Actual	2002/03 Variance
Client satisfaction with fish and wildlife recreation opportunities.	Measure to be developed in 2002/03.	Specific details for this measure were identified in 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan.	None.

Source: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection

Rationale for the Performance Measure

A key intended outcome of providing British Columbians and visitors with fish and wildlife recreation opportunities is client satisfaction. This performance measure was selected to determine the ministry's effectiveness in achieving this outcome.

Achievements and Key Issues

The ministry's approach to issuing fish and wildlife recreation authorizations is under review. A significant change — the implementation of an electronic licensing system (refer to the "Summary Reports on Other Planning Processes" section for further details about the Information Resource Management Plan) — is expected to improve both access to authorizations and the timeliness of processing authorizations for user access to fish and wildlife resources. Developing the client satisfaction measure will therefore be incorporated into the plans for the new licensing system. The ministry intends to acquire the necessary data for the measure through a survey of hunters and anglers who purchase licences over the Internet or through authorized retailers.

While the new system may pose some data challenges, the electronic survey method is expected to be a cost-effective means of data collection.

Compliance with fish and wildlife recreation authorizations

Performance Measure	2002/03 Target	2002/03 Actual	2002/03 Variance
Compliance with fish and wildlife recreation authorizations.	Measure to be developed in 2003/04.	There was no deliverable for 2002/03. Work was conducted on developing the ministry's overall compliance strategy, of which compliance reporting will be a part.	None.

Source: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection

Rationale for the Performance Measure

A key role of the ministry in meeting its objective of managing fish and wildlife for angling, hunting and viewing is to ensure that fish and wildlife recreation authorizations are complied with. Over the last 10 years, one of the ministry's main challenges has been effective monitoring and reporting.

Achievements and Key Issues

The ministry continued in 2002/03 to conduct inspections and, where non-compliance was detected, appropriate investigations and enforcement actions were taken.

During the April 2002 to March 2003 period, there were 1,010 wildlife recreation warnings issued and 1,197 charges. In the same period, there were 797 fishing-related warnings and 575 charges. Figure 4 provides these and further statistics related to wildlife and fishing-related enforcement.

Enforcement Statistics
Program	Number of Occurrence Reports	Number of Case Files	Number of Charges	Number of Warnings
Wildlife	2,828	2,120	1,197	1,010
Fisheries	1,327	1,114	575	797
Total	4,155	3,234	1,772	1,807

Source: Conservation Officer Service

Figure 4. Enforcement Statistics

Work in developing this measure did not proceed in 2002/03 because the ministry is undertaking reviews of its approaches to regulatory compliance and issuing fish and wildlife recreation authorizations.

As reported under Goal 2, Environmental Stewardship, a key ministry achievement in 2002/03 related to compliance was the establishment of a call centre, in partnership with the Provincial Emergency Program. The centre enables the public to phone in reports of environmental violations or concerns. This puts into action the ministry's commitment to shared stewardship, and provides a source of information that the ministry can use to identify priority compliance issues and resource allocation needs to support monitoring and enforcement. The 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan includes an additional performance measure related to call centre trends to inform decision-making for allocating compliance resources.

Web-based delivery of hunting and angling licences

Performance Measure	2001/02 Actual	2002/03 Target	2002/03 Actual	2002/03 Variance
Web-based delivery of hunting and angling licences.	Manual paper-based system.	Develop Internet-based electronic delivery system and promote greater migration to electronic delivery of services throughout 2002/03 – 2004/05.	Business requirements defined in March 2003. Implementation scheduled for 2004.	None.

Source: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection

 

 

Rationale for the Performance Measure

The purpose of this performance measure is to track the ministry's success in shifting from a manual, paper-based system to a more cost-effective and efficient internet-based system. Improvements to the processing of hunting and fishing licences meet the ministry's objective of improving both timeliness and client satisfaction.

Achievements and Key Issues

The business requirements in support of a new online licensing system were defined during 2002/03, and implementation is expected in 2004. However, the objectives under this goal in the 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan have since been changed to focus on the intended outcomes of high quality hunting and angling opportunities and optimized economic contribution from fish and wildlife recreation. As this measure is not appropriately linked to the new objectives, and is an output rather than an outcome, it has not been included in the new Service Plan. Instead, it is being retained in the plan as a strategy.

Timely distribution of annual freshwater sport fishing synopsis and wildlife hunting and trapping synopsis

Performance Measure	Prior Years' Actual	2002/03 Target	2002/03 Actual	2002/03 Variance
Timely distribution of annual freshwater sport fishing synopsis and wildlife hunting and trapping synopsis.	Varying publication dates	Angling synopsis published by March 15. Hunting synopsis published by July 15.	Angling synopsis published March 1. Hunting synopsis published July 15.	Target met.

Source: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection

Rationale for the Performance Measure

This performance measure was selected because the timely distribution of both synopses is important in allowing the ministry to be effective in its objective of allocating fish and wildlife for angling and hunting. The synopses provide the ministry's sport fishing, hunting and trapping clients with detailed information about opportunities available in the upcoming angling and hunting seasons. Anglers and hunters use the information for trip planning. If the synopses were not published on time, the recreation opportunities they describe could be missed — particularly those opportunities available early in the season — and the economic benefits forfeited. In the past, late publication of a synopsis may have resulted in lost economic opportunity where tourist operators or guides were unable to book clients in advance.

Achievements and Key Issues

Production of both synopses involves significant effort. Factors contributing to fish and wildlife stocks (e.g., harvest limits, environmental conditions, predators) must be reconciled with a target for the current season's harvest, and regulatory approvals must be received before a synopsis can be published. Ministry staff's implementation of streamlined business and regulatory processes contributed to the success in meeting the publication targets for both synopses in 2002/03.

As reported for the previous performance measure, however, the objectives under this goal have been changed for 2003/04 to focus on the achievement of specific outcomes (high quality hunting and angling opportunities and optimized economic contributions from fish and wildlife recreation). This performance measure has not been included in the new Service Plan because other measures have been identified that are more directly linked to the new objectives. Nevertheless, the ministry considers timely communication to clients about fish and wildlife recreational opportunities to be an important aspect of client service and, as a result, timing of synopses distributions will continue to be monitored.

Objective: Parks Recreation — Provide, through private operators, camping and day use in parks.

The 2002/03 – 2004/05 Service Plan identified the following strategies for this objective:

• Provide facilities for camping and recreation in designated parks and remove recreational facilities in lower use parks by end of 2003.
• Increase opportunities for commercial recreation service delivery in appropriate parts of the park system.
• Increase local community and First Nations involvement in park management through a different management structure, such as an Authority.
• Enhance Web-based information sources.

Performance Measure

Park visitor satisfaction with campground facilities and services

Performance Measure	2002/03 Target	2002/03 Actual	2002/03 Variance
Park visitor satisfaction with campground facilities and services.	75%	78%	Target exceeded.

Source: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, BC Parks Satisfaction Survey

Rationale for the Performance Measure

One important outcome of providing campground facilities and services is client satisfaction. This performance measure directly assesses the ministry's effectiveness in achieving that outcome.

Achievements and Key Issues

Since 1985, the provincial government has conducted an annual satisfaction survey of visitors to campgrounds in the BC Parks system. This enables BC Parks to capture campers' views about the quality of services being provided by the ministry in the campgrounds, and therefore to identify priorities for service and facility improvements.

The Visitor Satisfaction Index is the overall rating, averaged for the province, that campers give in the survey to five categories: cleanliness of restrooms, cleanliness of grounds, condition of facilities, sense of security, and control of noise. The rating is based on responses of "excellent" and "above average." The ministry uses the index to determine how well these five particular services are being provided from year to year, and how effective service improvements have been. Figure 5 shows the Visitor Satisfaction Index for the past 10 years.

Source: Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, BC Parks Satisfaction Survey

Figure 5. Visitor Satisfaction Index

Although the performance target was met, the satisfaction rating in 2002/03 of 78% is slightly lower than it has been in the past five years. Overall satisfaction for the five services that constitute the index remained high.