British Columbia is an international leader in sustainable forest management. Its forestlands are unique among worldwide producers in that 95% of them are publicly owned and subjected to strict forest-management laws backed by a comprehensive compliance and enforcement process that involves various provincial and federal agencies.  British Columbia's Forest and Range Practices Act applies to any forest or range activities on public land, maintaining the province's high level of environmental protection in an efficient and effective manner.

It specifies requirements to conserve soils, to reforest logged areas, and to protect riparian areas, fish and fish habitat, watersheds, biodiversity and wildlife. It also specifies requirements for the construction, maintenance and deactivation of forest roads.  About 200 million seedlings are planted every year in the province. In addition, the independent Forest Practices Board watches over all forestry activities on behalf of the public.   Two independent studies comparing forestry regulations (click here and here) in jurisdictions around the world, found that British Columbia’s forest sustainability requirements are among the most stringent in the world.

British Columbia is the most biologically and ecologically diverse province in Canada, and the province takes care to maintain this immense diversity through a coordinated comprehensive strategy to conserve a network of parks and protected areas totalling 14.1 million hectares (approx. 35 million acres or 14.8%) of the province. An equally large area is designated for special management, which means other values in the forest, such as wildlife habitat or scenic values take precedence over resource development. The closer managed forests resemble the forests that were established by natural processes, the greater the probability that all native species and ecological processes will be maintained.

British Columbia’s laws and conservation strategies are geared to protecting the habitat of vulnerable species such as spotted owls and mountain caribou.

Did you know?
Over a decade ago, a model for cooperation between industry and environmental groups was established in the Joint Solutions Project (JSP) for the Great Bear Rainforest.  The agreement was the first of its kind in Canada and the world, whereby the forest industry and environmental groups agreed to work together to reduce land use conflicts, to collaborate and to constructively engage with other stakeholders that resulted in the government-led consensus-based land use plans for B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest.