Strategic Land-use Planning

“Strategic Planning” is aimed at deciding where you want to end up, while “operational planning” focuses on how to get there.  Strategic Land Use Planning relates to the values that we want to recognize when we manage our land.  It sets high level direction for the full range of land use activities that may occur on public land, and usually identifies areas where particular uses are to be given priority.  An exercise in Strategic Land Use Planning might consider:

·         What we want the land to look like in 5, 10, 100 and 500 years?

·         What areas and resources do we want to protect?

·         Do we view animals, wildlife and wild areas as having value in their own right or as a valuable resource to be exploited?

·         What people and communities have an interest in the area and do we want to ensure that their interests are protected?

·         What types of industries do we want to support?

Strategic land use planning is the broadest level of planning undertaken in BC.  Usually spearheaded by the provincial government (although some First Nations and environmental groups have undertaken their own Strategic Land Use Planning exercises), Strategic Land Use Planning should involve representatives of all interests in an area.  By bringing together different sectors of a community it allows the community to define how it wants its land to be used. 

Government-led Strategic Land Use Planning

Strategic land-use planning for Crown lands in British Columbia has taken many forms over the years.  These processes vary according to scale (regional, sub-regional, watershed-based, etc.), process and purpose.  The Guide Page on Types of Strategic Plans provides more detail about some of the models which have been used.  However, there are two main types of Strategic Planning that are ongoing in the province:

·         Land Resource Management Plans (LRMPs) – LRMPs attempt to define the general social goals for an area by identifying Resource Management Zones and setting different objectives and levels of intensity of industrial development for each.  The government is currently trying to develop LRMPs in most or all areas not currently covered by an LRMP or a Regional Land-use Plans (larger scale plans developed in 4 regions of the province).

·         Landscape Unit Planning – Landscape Units are units of land for which specific goals and operational objectives have been set.  A very flexible tool, they can span watersheds or, more commonly, protect a specific resource or feature in a particular area.  Landscape Units are currently developed through a process called Sustainable Resource Management Planning, which may not involve the public as fully as other types of strategic land use planning have done. 

Land-use planning in B.C. has not been developed sequentially.  In theory “higher level” plans (plans which are broader in scope) are supposed to give direction to “lower level”, more localized, plans.  However, due to lack of resources, government priorities and economic demands, planning is often done at the operational level with little or no guidance from strategic plans.  Where higher level plans exist, newer, more detailed plans are supposed to be consistent with the higher level plan.  However, where there is no higher level plan, a range of plans, often without consistency between them, may be developed. 

The provincial government has promised to develop a provincial Sustainability Charter that will guide all environmental decision-making within the province.  However, a rough draft of the Charter was criticized by environmental groups and others as not containing meaningful requirements around environmental sustainability.   A new version has not been made publicly available at this time. 

Implementing Strategic Land Use Planning

Early strategic plans were intended to be implemented through government policy.  There was no legal way to enforce these plans.  For many types of land-use this is still the case.  For example, there is currently no requirement that strategic plans be considered in making decisions regarding mining, oil and gas exploration, pesticide use, etc. on Crown Lands. 

However, the provincial Forest Practices Code does allow the government to set legally enforceable objectives.  Under the Code operational logging plans are required to be “consistent” with these objectives.  While strategic plans do not always translate easily into legally enforceable objectives, this tool has been used to implement some aspects of strategic land-use plans. 

Related Guide Pages:

·         Types of Strategic Land Use Plan

·         Sustainable Resource Management Planning

·         Government Objectives under the Forest Practices Code

For more information about Strategic Land-Use Planning:

·         West Coast Environmental Law’s Guide to Forest Land Use Planning, Strategic Planning section. 

·         Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, Resource Management Division website.  In particular, the Introduction to Land use Planning.

·         Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, Land Use Branch. 1995. Handbook for Land and Resource Management Planning. Victoria.