Part B: Integrated Land Management Bureau — Continued

Strategic Context

Considering that 2005 was its first year of existence, the Integrated Land Management Bureau has responded quickly to a number of external and internal factors that could have affected its business or intended achievements. An overview of these factors is presented below and expanded upon in the Report on Performance section — along with their risks, opportunities and how they are being managed and mitigated.

External Factors

The new Bureau had to respond to a number of issues inherited from former organizations when it was first created in 2005 — issues that could have affected its ability to succeed as a new entity. For example, strong commodity markets, particularly in energy and minerals, continued to create a demand for resource planning and information services formerly handled by the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM). In addition, the Bureau carried on responding to government's priority to conclude regional land-use plans, also a key function of the former MSRM. The Bureau also assumed the allocation and disposition of Crown land responsibilities formerly associated with Land and Water BC, Inc. Combining those responsibilities with the need to address government's priority of providing citizen-centred service to British Columbians, the Bureau responded to this opportunity by expanding its services on behalf of other agencies with the establishment of single-point-of-contact FrontCounter BC offices.

The Bureau has also needed to act corporately in responding to cross government priorities such as the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic, preparations for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and government's commitment to implementing a New Relationship with First Nations. Inherent in the Bureau's support for these priorities is its commitment to balancing economic development with sustainable environmental management.

Internal Factors

The biggest challenge or risk facing the Integrated Land Management Bureau in 2005/06 was the need to set up and promote a brand new organization as directed by government while building on previously established relationships. Organizational challenges included transferring staff from other agencies; setting up new offices, websites and file systems; integrating inherited information systems; and providing new services on behalf of other ministries.

Five Great Goals

Activities undertaken by the Bureau reflect and directly support the effective delivery of the Five Great Goals set by the government for British Columbia to realize its full potential in the decade now underway — specifically Goals 4 and 5. The Five Great Goals established by government are:

  1. Make British Columbia the best-educated, most literate jurisdiction on the continent.
  2. Lead the way in North America in healthy living and physical fitness.
  3. Build the best system of support in Canada for persons with disabilities, those with special needs, children at risk, and seniors.
  4. Lead the world in sustainable environmental management, with the best air and water quality, and the best fisheries management, bar none.
  5. Create more jobs per capita than anywhere else in Canada.

The Bureau's key supporting functions for Goals 4 and 5 are listed below:

Government's Great Goal 4

During 2005/06, the Bureau's work — notably land and resource management planning, client-centred natural resource authorization access services, access to Crown land, and resource information services — provided significant opportunities to balance responsible economic and community development with proactive mechanisms to work towards achieving a sustainable environment. Key Bureau activities that supported progress in achieving Goal 4 included:

  • developing recovery plans for broad-ranging species-at-risk (Northern Spotted Owl, Mountain Caribou);
  • continuing landscape-level and sustainable resource management plans, including completing high priority SRMPs that are required to support the Forest and Range Practices Act (Goals 4 and 5);
  • greater involvement of First Nations in land and resource management planning that furthers the New Relationship (Goals 4 and 5);
  • improving access to more integrated land and resource information (Goals 4 and 5);
  • updating LRMPs and regional land-use plans to address Mountain Pine Beetle impacts; and
  • planning and provision of Crown land to support the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (Goals 4 and 5).

Government's Great Goal 5

All of the Bureau's major functions supported this government goal by fostering greater investor confidence and responsible economic development. These functions included:

  • providing integrated, timely, lower cost and more certain Crown land and resources through FrontCounter BC single-point-of-contact offices, land and resource management planning activities, and improved access to land and resource information;
  • better integration and corporate coordination of land and resource information;
  • enhancing First Nations participation in the provincial economy through involvement, consultation and accommodation in land-use planning and recovery planning for broad-ranging species-at-risk; and
  • ensuring further economic development while respecting social and environmental values by providing access to Crown land through a range of tenure mechanisms, partnerships and strategic Crown land sales and grants.

Cross Ministry Initiatives

Since release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands' Service Plan Update in September 2005, the Bureau has contributed to a number of cross government initiatives through the following activities:

Citizen-centred Service Delivery. On behalf of seven natural resource ministries,10 the Bureau provides FrontCounter BC services from four regional centres, with plans for four more by late 2006. The opening of these centres assists clients seeking information and assistance in making applications for natural resource permits, licences, approvals and Crown land tenures, sales and grants.

Species-at-Risk Coordination. By creating a Species-at-Risk Coordination Office, the Bureau has filled a vacuum in providing a coordinated provincial response to federal species at risk legislation and advocacy campaigns, as well as regional opportunities to address species-at-risk issues within a broader land and resource decision-making process. The Bureau has been active in developing corporate recovery plans for broad-ranging species-at-risk to address population declines and provide resource-use certainty. The Bureau works closely with the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Range.

2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Bureau continues to provide corporate leadership through the Sea-to-Sky Coordination Strategy to ensure First Nations, community, business and environmental interests are adequately addressed so that Olympic venues can be constructed on time and on budget. The Bureau is facilitating inter-agency coordination through the Sea-to-Sky Working Group by supporting Olympic-related developments through provision of Crown land, Nordic venue trails assessment, agreements on highway development, and supporting the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation in delivery of the Shared Legacies Agreement.

New Relationship with First Nations. In partnership with other natural resource ministries, the Bureau is leading the development and future implementation of a land use planning framework that incorporates the New Relationship initiative. During government-to-government discussions on the strategic land and resource management plans held this year, the Bureau has assisted First Nations in reconciling their land-use plan and interests with provincial objectives.

Effects of Mountain Pine Beetle. The Bureau has supported the Ministry of Forests and Range in reviewing and updating approved land and resource-use plans in areas impacted by the Mountain Pine Beetle to ensure that all plan requirements — including timber availability, tourism, road access development and habitat conservation values — are addressed to the greatest extent possible given the scale of the epidemic while facilitating new economic development opportunities. Planning assistance has also been provided by the Bureau through use of base mapping and air photos that identify Mountain Pine Beetle-damaged stands and wildfire stands. These maps and images facilitate salvage activities, silviculture activity scheduling and monitoring, and timber supply reviews.

Cross Government Management: Inter-Agency Management and Regional Managers Committees. During the past year the Bureau has supported government's strategic directions and priorities for resource management by using a collaborative and coordinated approach within a cross ministry structure. This was achieved at the executive level through use of the Deputy Ministers' Committee on Natural Resources and the Deputy Ministers' Committee on Integrated Land Management. The latter group essentially serves as the Bureau's advisory Board of Directors. There is a similar regional inter-ministry governance structure, with each major B.C. region and sub-region having a Bureau-led and managed Inter-Agency Management Committee (IAMC). The IAMCs and Sub-regional Managers Committees provide the regional-level forum through which agencies consult, cooperate and integrate their respective functions to deliver government's resource management programs. The committees also develop regional strategic plans to address the major cross ministry land and resource-use issues.

Cross Government Management: Base Mapping. The Bureau continued to provide base mapping services which supply critical map data utilized by all sectors of the economy, including mining, oil and gas exploration, forestry, utilities and transportation. Base mapping is a critical foundation geographic tool that is essential for resource management and other provincial government services such as emergency response, community planning and development, and First Nations treaty development.

Cross Government Management: Critical Land and Resource Information Management. The centre of provincial land and resource information is the Integrated Land Management Bureau — information that is critical to responsible resource and community development across British Columbia. The Bureau manages and maintains this wealth of information through a number of systems and services, including:

  • fundamental aspects and standards of the Global Positioning System;
  • provincial system of survey control points and GPS active control stations;
  • Integrated Cadastral Fabric;
  • ortho-imagery and air photo products and related services;
  • Integrated Land and Resource Registry; and
  • Base Map Online Store.
10  The seven ministries are: Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, Agriculture and Lands; Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources; Environment; Forests and Range; Tourism, Sport and the Arts; and Transportation.
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