for the GOVERNMENT ACTIONS REGULATION WORKSHOP SETTING THE CONTEXT for the GOVERNMENT ACTIONS REGULATION WORKSHOP

Forest and Range Practices Act Governs forest and range practices on Crown land in British Columbia Came into effect January 2004 It is a “results-based” approach Government sets clear objectives and some default practices – front end Industry and professionals deliver through planning and practices on the ground – the how to’s Monitor for compliance and effectiveness – feedback loop

FRPA Construct This framework was developed to meet a set of goals, they include FRPA Goals 1. Reduce the transactional and operational costs to industry. 2. Reduce the current Code’s administrative complexity. 3. Provide industry “freedom to manage” in delivery of defined results 4. Maintain the current Code’s high environmental standards. 5. Continue to balance social, environmental and economic interests. 6. Maintain and enhance the level of public acceptance of forest and range management. 7. Be within the resource capacity of government 8. Strengthen the compliance and enforcement regime. 9. Enhance industry’s global competitiveness by improving its ability to exercise government granted timber-harvesting rights on a timely, economic and environmentally sound basis. 10. Maintain and sustainability enhance the province’s timber supply. Please keep these in mind as we go through the workshop today as well as after for future considerations when working on any GAR action…They were fundamental to the development of FRPA and continue to apply in all decisions made under it. In addition to legal realm of this construct, there is the non-legal supporting information / guidelines… and these goals should also apply !!!!

Objectives Government establishes clear objectives around values to be maintained under FRPA Objectives Set By Government ( OSBG) ( FRPA s149 and s 93.4 Land Act) Objectives set in Regulation ( FPPR) Government Actions Regulation ( GAR) ( FRPA s 150) Grand-parented from the Code ( FRPA s 181) 11 FRPA values Soils Fish Visual Quality Wildlife Timber Biodiversity Forage and related Recreation resources plant communities Resource features Water Cultural Heritage resources Let’s look at the Objectives pillar – read slide Key point - The objectives trigger a requirement to create a Result or Strategy in the FSP for which they must be consistent to the extent practicable. Therefore objectives should be written with that in mind!

Hierarchy of Objectives Land Use Objectives (LA) May “conflict” with Objectives set in Regulation (eg. FPPR) There are three types of government objectives that can be established. The first is Land Use Objectives Land use objectives are established by the Integrated Land Management Bureau under the Land Act The second type are Objectives in Regulation These objectives are fixed in the Forest and Range Practices Act regulations The third type of objectives are Objectives Enabled by Regulation such as GAR FPPR Section 12 ( 4, 5 and 6) outline the hierarchy of these various forms of objectives. In simple terms….. They are designed to work together, the highest rules, others need to be consistent with them. Gar objectives “fit”. They have a key role to play in FRPA in relation to the other objectives to be most effective. Objectives Enabled in Regulation (GAR) Must be consistent with

GAR Orders Objectives Areas designations Measures, and Features Process requirements for GAR orders In additions to GAR’s ability to create Objectives such as VQO’s, WQO’s , GAR also provides for establishing area designations such as community watersheds, scenic area, etc…, establishing general wildlife measures for a number of categories such as Species at risk, and identifying features such as wildlife habitat or resource features… And the regulation sets out a required administrative process for these orders. Brian will elaborate in much more detail later this morning.

Importance of GAR to FRPA FRPA envisions stewardship based on finding the right balance between: A range or forest tenure holders economic interests Sustainability of the provinces forest and range resource Protection of the publics non-timber values Actions under GAR are critical to the success of FRPA when done collaboratively and co-operatively First bullet – read slide and GAR has its unique authorities to this mix and in the context of the overall framework Second bullet – read slide, these are discretional actions that need to be within the context of the overall framework ( legal / non-legal) Information sharing and support from all parties as these actions move through the process is critical to good decision making. I can’t stress the importance of relationships and communication enough under this regulation and the overall model….Understanding how all this fits together is the purpose of these workshops and will go a long way in leading to successful implementation.

GAR Policy and Procedure Provides one of the basis for these workshops Administrative document prepared by PFIT in 2006 and signed off by the Dep. Minister’s ( Forest, MoE, MTSA, ILMB) LUOR vs GAR document Available on PFIT’s website http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hth/timten/FRPA_implementation/index.htm Basis is along with the regulations and interpretive advice Encourage to become very familiar with these documents and any revisions as they evolve through time.

What else is going on? Provincial FRPA Implementation Team ( PFIT) is going one step further - co-ordination of government agencies for all actions under the Objectives pillar - revisions to the GAR policy and procedures based on workshop Bulletin – clarifies FSP requirements when implementing new objectives As you know there are a number of aspects to the Objectives pillar beyond GAR and a number of agencies have responsibility to consider taking those actions…PFIT is working with these agencies with the same type of teamwork used to create the Policy/procedures for GAR but to provide alignment of all gov’t actions under the objective pillar. A working groups has been formed to make sure information is shared and collaboration of activities promoted in order government functions with consistent approach to exercising its authorities under this pillar. For example, Objectives can be written under the Land Act ( recent release of the LUOR policy and procedures) , GAR ( existing document) and FRPA s 56 for recreation ( document under development) . There is no reason why these agencies can not use consistent approaches in how objectives can be effectively writing. IN order to achieve this , we are planning to deliver a series of workshops in 2008 geared for staff who are involved in writing these various objectives. There are up to 3 other GAR workshops being delivered this spring and once they are completed I suspect we will have a number of learnings we can incorporate into the existing GAR policy/ procedure document for everyone benefit. New Bulletin scheduled for release this spring regarding amending FSP’s when new objectives come into effect.

Summary FRPA is a fundamentally important piece of legislation governing the management of the forest and range resources of BC Success for the GAR component depends on: A common understanding of the legislation A common understanding of how the GAR authorities are administered The appropriate establishment of GAR authorities Positive relationships that lead to a collaboration, co-operative approach Partnership and information sharing with government agencies and industry, and Effectiveness monitoring to make sure the need is met through time Success The right tool in the right circumstance at the right time. Keeping the action effective through monitoring.