Conservation Milestones

February 2006: The Province of British Columbia and participating First Nations announce agreement on final land use plans covering over 18 million acres of the mainland coast of British Columbia.

May 2006: The Province of British Columbia passes amendments to the Park Act to create a new protected area designation in the province – conservancies.

For the first time in British Columbia history, activities within protected areas created under this legislation must be consistent with objectives of protecting biodiversity, cultural interests of First Nations, and recreation values. It is expected that most new protected areas in the region will be conservancies.

In July of 2006, 1,336,706 acres of new conservancies were established in legislation by the Government of British Columbia. An additional 407,796 acres of new conservancies were established by legislation in June of 2007.

January 2007: Canada’s federal government announces that it would match the provincial commitment of $30 million CAD. This contribution brings the total public funding to $60 million CAD and total conservation financing to $120 million.

March 31 2009:  The Province of British Columbia announced formal action to realize its commitment to implement Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM).  

A new system of "lighter-touch" logging regulations that will maintain 50% of the natural level of old growth forest in the region was announced. This translates to an additional 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of forest set aside from logging.

Environmental groups, along with the Province, industry and First Nations have agreed on a five-year plan that would see the long-term goals of low ecological risk and high quality of life in communities, achieved by 2014.

Since 2006, the following key milestones have been achieved:

• 1/3 of the rainforest has been permanently protected from logging and new conservancies have been established in legislation,
• Conservation financing revenues have begun to flow to First Nation communities to create sustainable business development and employment opportunities, and
• First Nations and the Province have developed a new government-to-government relationship and mechanisms for collaborative stakeholder involvement.