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Collaborative Land Management Portal

This project will conduct a user needs assessment for the development of a collaborative land management portal to support resource management and forestry planning in the Chinook Business Area of British Columbia (BC).

BC's Forest and Range Practices Act requires British Columbia Timber Sales to prepare and seek approval of a Forest Stewardship Plan. Location-based, or spatial information, is at the heart of a Forest Stewardship Plan. The key information that is presented in the plan is the spatial representation of planned cut blocks, as well as maps indicating the location of supporting infrastructure, such as access roads.

This project is required because forest license holders need to share data to determine whether proposed timber-harvest locations (cut blocks) or roads comply with BC's Forest and Range Practices Act. However, today there are no readily available tools that track, compare, and consolidate this data. Therefore, licensees have to share data manually, which is a cumbersome approach. Nor can the public access this consolidated data. The project proposes to implement tools that support sustainable management plans for landscape level management and area-based forest certification.

The Consolidated Land Management Portal will assist licensees in working together to analyze proposed cut blocks or roads, and integrate this data with other data layers, such as natural features, trap lines, protected or culturally sensitive areas, and habitat of rare, threatened or endangered species.

The goal of the user needs assessment is to ensure the planned portal will deliver the information its users want, how they want it. Users of the portal are expected to include the following:

  • BC Timber Services and licensees
  • First Nations
  • Regulatory agencies such as the BC Ministry of Forests and Range and BC Ministry of Agriculture & Lands
  • Third parties such as guides, outfitters, recreational users, community groups, and the public

The portal will capitalize on Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) framework data services from federal and British Columbia provincial sources. The CGDI enables Canadians to share, access, use, and combine location-based information over the Internet.

GeoConnections supports two priority areas of the environment and sustainable development community: Integrated Landscape Management, and Environmental Assessment. With GeoConnections' support, planning authorities, regulatory boards, and environmental assessment agencies are using geospatial tools, technologies, and data more effectively than ever before. These entities are also developing standards and best practices that assist users to better manage Canada's lands, watersheds, and oceans.

This project contributes to the Integrated Landscape Management priority issue.


Primary Partner: British Columbia Timber Sales  Chillawak,  British Columbia;

Partners:
British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands - Integrated Land Management Bureau
British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range
Haida First Nations
B.C. Ministry of Forest and Range
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Integrated Land Management Bureau

Funding From GeoConnections: $40,000.00 ( 44.69 %)

Estimated Inception Date: January, 2009

Estimated Completion Date: July, 2009

Deliverables from this project benefitted the following provinces: British Columbia;