Part A: Integrated Land Management Bureau

Purpose of the Bureau

   Blue Lake in Skeena area. Photo credit: Ryan Holmes

Crown land in British Columbia covers 94 per cent of the province. This publicly owned land and its natural resources are major contributors to the economic, social and environmental health of the province. The Integrated Land Management Bureau plays a key role in facilitating co-ordinated access to both Crown land and its resources, furthering government’s commitment to a strong economy, vibrant communities, environmental stewardship and the development of a strong, mutually supportive relationship with First Nations.

The Integrated Land Management Bureau provides an array of services to the public and to other government agencies involved in using and managing Crown land and natural resources. The Bureau’s clients range from those seeking access for business, community, recreational or other purposes to those interested in the effective environmental stewardship of land and resources. The Bureau assists clients in many ways, including: co-ordinating access to tenures, permits, licences, Crown land sales and grants; co-ordinating multi agency consultation engagement agreements with First Nations on land and resource issues including implementation of land-use planning agreements; managing and providing land and resource information; and co-ordinating recovery planning for broad-ranging species-at-risk.

Established in 2005, the Bureau is hosted by and accountable to the Minister of Agriculture and Lands. Enjoying relative independence, the Bureau’s services to the public are provided on behalf of numerous provincial ministries. Five ministries generally oversee the work of the Bureau as an advisory board: Agriculture and Lands; Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources; Environment; Forests and Range; Tourism, Sport and the Arts. The Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation contribute occasional oversight. The Bureau also provides corporate leadership on behalf of government towards the sustainable management of natural resources and co-ordination of related information.

In addition, the Bureau has nine regional FrontCounter BC offices, providing a single-window access point for over 100 different types of authorization applications related to natural resources on behalf of the ministries and other agencies it serves.¹ FrontCounter BC services cover this wide range of natural resource authorizations while integrating Crown land use, land-use planning, provision and analysis of related information. In a similar capacity, the Bureau’s web-based Natural Resource Information Centre provides a single window to the province’s common land and resource information products and services.

In effect, the Bureau is the primary provincial source for authoritative land, resource and geographic data and application services.