AG criticizes province over conservation lands program

B.C. failed to adequately manage a conservation lands program aimed at protecting habitats for fish-and-wildlife species that are some of the most diverse in Canada, the auditor-general says.

Michael Pickup said Tuesday that the program conserves biologically productive estuaries and grasslands in B.C., as well as wildlife management areas including internationally recognized wetlands and important migratory bird habitat.

“We found that the program ... lacked strategic direction and most plans for wildlife management areas were not current, nor approved,” he said, referring to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

“We also found that the regional staff had limited strategies to resolve unauthorized use of conservation lands and had not assessed which lands were most at risk from this use,” Pickup said.

Analysis of data between 2009 and 2020 showed hundreds of unauthorized activities occurred on conservation lands, he said of people using motor vehicles in those areas as well as dumping and having dogs off-leash.

Lands conserved through the program are located throughout B.C. and include two internationally designated wetlands and habitat critical for migratory birds that fly from the Arctic to the west coast of Mexico and the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

The conservation program was established over 50 years ago.

The ministry has been responsible for it since 2011, but it hasn't monitored it or reported publicly on it, says the auditor's report. The report covers management of the program from 2016-20, but also assessed older data that still applied to the ministry's current work.