Private Managed Forest Land: A Small Land Base with Big Benefits
If you live on Vancouver Island and have stumbled on a gate while hiking, biking or wandering in the woods, you know that some of the island’s forests are privately owned — roughly one-fifth. You might not know that Vancouver Island’s private forest lands are an anomaly in BC, where only around 2% of the total forest land is privately owned (98% is Crown forest land).
And of that 2% of privately owned forest, about half has a special designation as Managed Forest which is a BC Assessment property classification established to encourage long-term forest production, much like BC’s Farm classification is designed to encourage agricultural production.
There are similar programs in other jurisdictions, including Ontario where the ‘Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program’ is comparable.[1]
When it comes to understanding Crown and Private Managed Forest land management, there are similarities when it comes to both being regulated, the Crown land side by the Forest & Range Practices Act and the private land side by the Private Managed Forest Land Act. Those are in addition to over 30 federal and provincial Acts and regulations to protect key public values.[2] And both private and Crown land regulations are enforced by independent audits, conducted by the Forest Practices Board on Crown lands and by the Managed Forest Council on managed forest lands.
Work on both Crown and Private Managed Forest lands in BC is dominated by regulated professionals, for example Registered Professional Foresters (RPF), Registered Forest Technologists (RFT), Registered Professional Biologists (RPBio), and Registered Biology Technologists (RBTech), working in reserved practice. As an additional risk management measure, these professional’s plans may require sign-off by a Professional Engineer (Peng), a Professional Geoscientist (P.Geo), or both. The pool of professional expertise runs deep.
These high regulatory and professional standards mean that forestry in BC is widely considered a model for sustainable forest management, recognized globally for its stringent forest laws and commitment to balancing environmental, social, and economic needs in its forestry practices.
BC has roughly the same amount of forested area as it did before European settlement, making it one of the few regions in the world with virtually no significant deforestation.[3]
While public and private forest lands in BC both have regulatory and enforcement backbones, a key difference rests on the first requirement of participation in the Private Managed Forest program, and that is having title to forest land. By nature, the investment in private forest land management is long term and for many, it’s personal. Private Managed Forest landowners are as diverse as the forests themselves, operating at all scales throughout BC, many as small, family-run properties including First Nations. Some owners live on their forest properties, giving them intimate knowledge of the plant and animal ecosystems they share.
Private Managed Forest landowners are heavily invested to manage for both the long-term health of the forest and for return on their investment. Providing fibre to local mills and jobs to their communities is more important now, than ever, with the recent declines in Crown land harvest.
Other benefits of sustainable forest management on Private Managed Forest lands transcend property boundaries. Private Managed Forest landowners consider a broad range of management issues, including mitigating climate change impacts and reducing the risk of wildfire, preventing invasive plant establishment and spread, and managing for pests and disease. These are priorities that offer significant benefits to neighbouring communities.
And remember that walk in the forest we talked about earlier? Just like any property owner would, paying attention to liability is a given on Private Managed Forest lands. Unfortunately, forests tend to be magnets for garbage dumping and vandalism. But private landowners are good neighbours, and many go to lengths – often with partner organizations, to accommodate recreational access through firewood cutting programs, mountain bike trails, or accessible docks and stocking of lakes for fishing.
To learn more about private managed forest lands and the benefits they offer neighbouring communities, visit www.pfla.bc.ca.
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[1] https://www.ontario.ca/page/managed-forest-tax-incentive-program
[2] 30 additional federal and provincial acts and regulations to protect key public values include Fisheries Act, Species at Risk Act, Water Sustainability Act & Regulation, Drinking Water Protection Act & Regulation
[3] https://www.naturallywood.com/resource/state-of-british-columbias-forests-a-global-comparison
