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  • Coast Information Team

Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management

Background

Over the past decade, the Central Coast has received an extraordinarily high level of international and domestic attention. Coastal communities have been harmed by ongoing land- use disputes, market campaigns and resource industry adjustments. While forestry remains the largest economic driver for coastal communities, uncertainties persist in this region.

The Central Coast land and resource management planning process began in 1996. The first phase of the plan concluded in April 2001 following participation by more than 60 stakeholders from all levels of government, First Nations, industry, environmental groups and outdoors groups.

Review/Decisions
Minister of Sustainable Resource Management Stan Hagen has made two trips to the planning area, accompanied by area MLAs and staff, and has met with communities and other interests in the region on several occasions.

The government endorses the intent of the first-phase agreement and will now finalize land-use designations and move forward with detailed planning for the region. The decision to move ahead on the Central Coast includes new directions reflecting government's desire for a more efficient and effective process to ensure a timely completion of the plan. Mayor Jim Lornie of Campbell River has been appointed to chair the completion table. He will be accountable to the minister and the table for ensuring the process is completed by spring 2003.

Planning Process

• A smaller planning table has provisions for working groups to resolve specific issues including socio-economic impact analysis, ecosystem-based resource management strategies, tourism strategies and a review of the working forest concept for the area.
• Discussions of proposed protection areas are to be complete by December, with a government decision on legally designating the endorsed areas in January 2002. Suspension of resource activities in identified areas will continue while planning maps are being finalized.
• A five-member management committee, co-chaired by government and First Nations, has been established to appoint and manage a coast information team. This independent scientific body will provide information on ecological, economic, social and First Nations traditional knowledge considerations.
• Agreements will be negotiated to give First Nations a larger role in planning and managing areas identified for protection.
• The marine planning work done by the table has been approved in principle, subject to final discussions with the federal and provincial governments and First Nations.
• The orders-in-council setting aside up to $35 million to deal with coastal adjustment issues will remain. The structures and methods for allocating these funds will be determined over the coming months.

The new Land Resource Management Planning process adopts a sectoral model with a collaborative approach to reaching decisions. This means there are fewer people at the table representing larger constituencies. There will be representatives from the environmental community, the forest industry, tourism, recreation, labour, small business forestry, local governments, the federal government and First Nations.

Table representatives are responsible for representing the interests of their constituents, as well as reporting the group's progress to the people they represent. Most of the work will take place in smaller working groups and through negotiations between specific sectors.

Discussions will resume in December using terms of reference that clearly state goals, timelines and procedures for discussions.

The principles of ecosystem-based management will apply to discussions at the completion table. A final definition will be developed by table members and will have economic, community and ecological components.

Plan Area
The region is home to over 4,400 people, mainly First Nations. The plan area covers about 4.8 million hectares of marine, foreshore and upland area on the mainland West Coast of British Columbia. Temperate rainforests, important watersheds, rugged shorelines and steep mountainous terrain all characterize this region.

Natural resource industries, including fisheries and forestry, play a primary role in the local economies of communities inside the plan area, which include Bella Bella, Shearwater, Ocean Falls, Klemtu, Bella Coola and Oweekeno.

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For more information on the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, visit our Web site at http://www.gov.bc.ca/srm.

November 2001