Forest Land Reserve Act

Until 1994 there were almost no provincial restrictions on logging private lands.  The Forest Land Reserve Act created the Forest Land Reserve, an area of both private lands that are managed for forestry.  There are currently 920,000 hectares of private forest lands in the Forest Land Reserve.  The vast majority of these are on Vancouver Island (70%) or in the Kootenays (25%).  The Agricultural Land Commission currently administers the Act.   

Originally the Act explicitly prevented land owners from using their lands for purposes inconsistent with long-term forest management.  Recent changes to the Act have watered down these restrictions, notably by removing all limits on subdividing these lands, but land in the Forest Land Reserve Act must still be managed according to various rules governing logging. 

Note that the current government is in the process of phasing out the Forest Land Reserve altogether.  While it may provide some protection for lands for the time being, new changes to the law may come in at any time setting entirely new rules or removing the land from any protection. 

What’s in the Forest Land Reserve

Land becomes part of the Forest Land Reserve in one of three ways:

·         The land in 1994 was a privately-owned area included in a Tree Farm Licence, woodlot licence or community forest agreement (types of licences under the Forest Act that may include private lands in addition to public lands); Note: although these lands are in the Forest Land Reserve, they are administered by the Ministry of Forests under the Forest Act and Forest Practices Code. 

·         The owner claimed a tax break on his or her private land in 1993 because the land was managed as forest land; or

·         The owner applies to have his or her private land added to the forest land reserve in order to receive a tax break.

A land owner may apply to the Land Reserve Commission to remove land from the Forest Land Reserve.  The Commission should only do so where it believes that the removal is “in the public interest”.  This vague term was only recently introduced; the Act previously listed specific factors to be considered.

The Commission, in approving an application to add or remove land from the Reserve, may refer the application to local government, a First Nation or an organization representing stakeholders.  It may hold a public hearing or may decide to only receive written submissions. 

What can be done in the Forest Land Reserve

Any person managing land in the Forest Land Reserve (except for those lands included because they are part of a public timber licence) must follow requirements set out in the Private Land Forest Practices Regulation regarding:

·         Soil conservation;

·         Management of water quality and fish habitat;

·         Management of critical wildlife habitat; and

·         Reforestation of areas as provided in the Regulation.

The Private Land Forest Practices Regulation are much weaker than is required on public land.  For example, even large fish-bearing streams do not receive a “no-harvest” zone along their banks. Instead the regulation requires that a certain number of trees must be left behind every 200 metres on each side of the stream. For fish-bearing streams at least 3.0 metres wide, owners must leave forty trees every 200 metres on either bank, and for fish-bearing streams 1.5 to 3.0 metres wide, only twenty trees. Streams that are smaller than 1.5 metres, outside a community watershed, or are not fish-bearing, do not even receive this protection.
In addition to the above requirements, in order to get a tax break for managing the land as forest, a person must give the Land Reserve Commission a “management commitment” that contains:

·         A commitment to use the land for the production and harvesting of timber;

·         Long term objectives for the property;

·         Strategies to attain those objectives;

·         Various inventories or assessments; and

·         Reforestation commitments.

As noted above, there are plans to change or eliminate all of these requirements. 

For more information about the Forest Land Reserve Act:

·         Electronic text of the Forest Land Reserve Act.  However, this Act has recently been amended by sections 64 to 80 of the Agricultural Land Commission Act.  The copy of the Forest Land Reserve Act has not been updated and needs to be read in conjunction with those sections.

·         Electronic text of the Private Land Forest Practices Regulation.

·         Land Reserve Commission website: www.lrc.gov.bc.ca