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   In the 1980s, B.C. began making an unprecedented shift toward protecting all forest values. By 2001, it had become the first Canadian jurisdiction to achieve the general guideline of a United Nations' Commission to protect 12 per cent of its land base, and has since surpassed this target. Two key activities began in 1992 - a protected areas strategy aimed at doubling the amount of protected land to 12 per cent of the provincial land base and, secondly, a land use planning process that helped implement this strategy and began regional and sub-regional land use planning that was unprecedented anywhere else in Canada. B.C.'s comprehensive land use planning process is open and community-based. Decisions take into account the needs of communities, the economy and the environment. The process encourages participation by the public, stakeholders and various levels of government, including First Nations. To date, planning has been completed in more than 70 per cent of the province.  Along the coast, 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) or 10 per cent of the total land base is protected. This does not include dose to 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) on the central coast where the B.C. government has banned commercial logging until June 30, 2004 to ensure protection until the central coast land and resource management planning process is completed.The central coast planning area is one of 3 land use planning processes currently underway on the coast, representing government's ongoing commitment to manage resources on the basis of sound science and in a cooperative manner with First Nations and other interests. there are also planning processes underway on the north coast and the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii. All 3 planning processes focus on ecosystem-based management, a strategic approach that seeks to ensure the coexistence of healthy ecosystems and human activities that are balanced and sustainable. |
 In 1993, B.C. found itself in the centre of a world spotlight as protesters blocked logging roads to protest harvesting plans in Clayoquot Sound, one of five sounds on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island. Clayoquot Sound provided B.C. with one of its first opportunities to apply its strategies for protected areas and land use planning, and also set a new standard for full partnership between government and First Nations. A model was established that is now being adapted for other areas of the province, including the 3 innovative community-based resource management processes underway on the coast. In 2000, Clayoquot Sound was designated an international biosphere reserve by the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the first such designation for B.C.  Decisions in Clayoquot Sound were guided by more than 120 recommendations from a 19-member scientific panel with international expertise in biodiversity, fisheries and wildlife, forest harvest planning and scenic resources, and First Nation experts who provided traditional ecological knowledge.Among other things, the Clayoquot Scientific Panel recommended that all logging in the area adopt a variable retention silviculture system that retained a greater number of trees and placed limits on the size of harvest areas. The Clayoquot Sound portion of Tree Farm Licence 44 was transferred to Iisaak Forest Resources, a partnership of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Central Region First Nations and Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd. Today, one-third of the Clayoquot sound area is fully protected - a total of 87,600 hectares (216,500 acres), including the entire 78 kilometres (48.5 miles) of outer coastline from Pacific Rim National Park north to the Hesquiat Peninsula. One-third is in special management zones, which allows some logging but places the emphasis on conservation of wildlife, recreation and acenic landscape values. In the remaining one third where harvesting is the priority, it is managed to the highest standards in the world and focuses on meeting the needs of the ecosystem. Clayoquot sound illustrates the economic costs that are sometimes rrequired to protect an area's unique environmental and social values. The protected areas and special management regime led to the loss of an estimated 1,000 jobs, a $46 million reduction in B.C.'s gross domestic product and a $7.6 million reduction in annual resource and tax revenue. |
