Year-at-a-Glance Highlights

Land- and Resource-Use Planning

The completion of a number of strategic land-use and coastal plans will support resource-based economic development by accelerating and making more secure the access of users to land and resources.

• The Central Coast and Morice Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) tables reached consensus, the North Coast LRMP table reached approval in principle on a land-use map and the Sea-to-Sky LRMP was substantially completed. The Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands land-use plan was initiated. Covering smaller landscape levels, the Kyuoquot Sound Coastal Plan was completed in May 2003, the Eight Peaks Sustainable Resource Management Plan (SRMP) was completed in June 2003, the Cortes Island Shellfish Plan was released in July 2003, and the Southern Rocky Mountains Management Plan was approved in August 2003.
• The ministry supported application of the new Forest and Range Practices Act by meeting its target and completing 46 per cent of priority SRMPs that specify key biodiversity objectives required under the act. Enabling legislation for the Working Forest Initiative has been passed and designation of the Working Forest is expected to be substantially completed in 2004.
• Two pre-tenure plans (Halfway Graham and Muskwa West) were completed in the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area (MKMA), opening up about 330,000 hectares to oil and gas development while maintaining environmental values in Northeast B.C. Three other pre-tenure plans were substantially completed in the same area.

First Nations Issues

The ministry is working with several partner agencies to support greater First Nations participation in the province's resource-based economy.

• A framework agreement was signed with the Haida Nation to co-manage land-use planning on Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands.
• The ministry negotiated and managed $438,000 in economic measures agreements with First Nations. Projects funded included a regional strategy for shellfish development with six First Nations, and the Hanson Island Management Agreement.

Delivering Integrated Land and Resource Information

The ministry improved the quality of integrated registries and resource information and access to this information through a number of initiatives and major projects. Considerable improvements were made in the quality, accessibility and ease of use of the services available to the ministry's clients.

• The Integrated Land and Resource Registry Project, which will create a single register of legal interests and encumbrances on Crown and private land, is well underway.
• The integration of land and resource information is proceeding rapidly. The backlog of records data entry into the Crown land database was reduced by 60 per cent, down from 10,000 records two years ago. Stage 1 of the Corporate Watershed Base (CWB), which includes heights of land and a fully connected network of rivers, lakes and streams for the province at 1:20 000 scale, has been completed. A project to create a feature-based database with increased accessibility and update capability has been launched.
• The Land Information BC portal was launched in March 2004, providing a single window to more than 30 services.
• The ministry analyzed geographic information in support of land-use planning, the creation and designation of wildlife habitat areas, zoning of protected areas and the Defined Forest Area Management initiative.
• The ministry supported planning and operations for the Provincial Emergency Program, Office of the Fire Commissioner, RCMP and Ministry of Forests for the 2003 fire season and state of emergency.

Partnerships

Over 20 different partnerships have been developed with the private sector, all levels of government, non-government organizations and academia to support the goals of the ministry, including:

• Integrated Cadastral Information Society, a partnership with six major utility companies and 108 local governments to produce a parcel mapping product that fills a gap in land information that the Auditor General identified as a prerequisite for the proper capitalization of provincial land inventories.
• Canada-wide Differential GPS service, which allows real-time, accurate geographic location of land and resource information in the field; developed in partnership with all provinces, the federal government and Nunavut, led by British Columbia.
• Digital Road Atlas, a partnership with Emergency Communications Corp., Elections BC, the B.C. Ambulance Service, BC Stats and a private mapping company to keep this product up to date for accurate vehicle dispatching and people enumeration.
• B.C. Centre for Remote Sensing, Modeling and Simulation, established at the University of Victoria, linking the research community with both industry and government to develop solutions to land and resource problems using remotely sensed information.

Strategic Policies and Legislation

The ministry worked on principles, policies and legislation to guide sustainable resource management. Highlights include:

• The Governance Principles for Sustainability were finalized and posted on the ministry's Website and are being used to guide the development of strategic planning and policy initiatives.
• The ministry co-chaired the Sustainable Development Working Group of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region.
• The ministry was a key signatory to the "Framework for Collaboration: Launching the Five-Year Georgia Basin Action Plan."
• The ministry completed a review of land and water resource pricing to ensure a fair return to British Columbians and to help create a competitive investment climate.
• Free Crown Grant and Nominal Rent Tenure policies were revised to improve government accountability for these dispositions of Crown land, and to ensure that they support government's strategic goals.
• The deregulation target of 19.2 per cent for the year was exceeded, with a 24.1 per cent reduction in the number of ministry regulatory requirements relative to the 2001 baseline.
• The Private Managed Forest Land Act created a mechanism for the continued regulation of forest practices on private land subsequent to the elimination of the Forest Land Reserve. The act provides for the continued protection of key environmental values on private managed forest land.
• The Sustainable Resource Management Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act repealed a number of obsolete provisions and increased the efficiency of the application and licensing process for Crown land applications.
• Amendments to the Assessment Act clarified the authority of BC Assessment to assess tax-exempt properties and streamlined administrative processes.
• Amendments to the Land Act allow the government to set designations and management objectives for Crown land. The amendments will enable the designation of the Working Forest and support the implementation of the new results-based forest code.
• Amendments to the Land Surveyors Act were introduced in the legislature to provide increased professional reliance on land surveyors.

Property Assessment Services

In the area of property assessment, the ministry streamlined the appeal process to improve client services and timely results. It also developed a computer-aided training tool to assist members of property assessment review panels.

Contaminated Sites

Significant progress was made on the Britannia Mine Remediation Project. An agreement was reached that resulted in the province receiving at no cost, the land required to construct a water treatment plant. A remediation plan was submitted for approval by the provincial regulator, while the stage one remedial actions were implemented. Work was also initiated to establish a water treatment plant based on a public-private partnership model.

Organizational Excellence

The ministry is committed to visionary leadership and continuous improvement through performance-focused staff, transparency, and accountability to the public. This contributes to the quality of all ministry outcomes. This year saw the introduction of a 360-degree assessment process for executive staff and a continued focus on employee performance and development planning, as well as leadership and competency development.

The ministry successfully reorganized and set priorities to implement a workforce adjustment of 21 per cent in staff levels and a reduction of 24 per cent in operating expenditures from 2002/03 end-of-year levels. The reorganization included combining its two divisions concerned with the integration and delivery of registry and resource information into one and the reorganization of its regional staffing.