Managed Forest

Managed Forest Land

The Private Forest Landowners Association represents managed forest owners across the province of British Columbia—from the coastal to the interior, the large to the small, the veteran forester to the novice tree farmer.

Managed forest land is a BC Assessment property classification established in 1988 to encourage private landowners in British Columbia to manage their lands for long-term forest production.

All managed forest land must be used in accordance with the Private Managed Forest Land Act. Private forest land outside of the voluntary Managed Forest Program is not subject to the same regulations.

Landowners who commit to reforestation receive a managed forest property tax assessment status. To obtain this classification, landowners must:

1

File a management commitment with the Managed Forest Council

2

Provide information on harvesting, road construction and reforestation activities that take place on their lands

3

Manage their property in accordance with the Private Managed Forest Land Act and 35 associated regulations.

Who Regulates Managed Forest Land?

The Managed Forest Council is an independent provincial agency responsible for the administration of the Managed Forest Program.

The council consists of five members: two members appointed by the provincial government; two members elected by landowners, and one chair person who is jointly appointed by the other four members

To learn more about the Council, or the Managed Forest Program, please visit their website.

Private Forest Land Ownership

In British Columbia, 95% of the land base is publicly owned. About 5% (or 4.5 million hectares) is privately owned and of that, about 2% is private forest land.

Although private forest land accounts for a small percentage of the province’s land base (2%), it plays a significant role in the lives of British Columbians.

Publicly Owned Land
Privately Owned Land
Privately Owned Forest Land

Managed Forest Land FAQ's

How much Managed Forest Land is there in BC?

Of the 2% of land in British Columbia that is private forest land, 51% is managed forest land, 22% is forested farmland and 27% is forested residential.

Is there any regulatory oversight on Managed Forest land?

In total, Private Managed Forest Lands are bound by over 35 different legislative regulations, including:

Federal Fisheries Act
Forest Management Regulation
Water Sustainability Act
Fish Protection Act
Drinking Water Protection Act
Fish Protection Act
Private Managed Forest Land Regulation
Wildlife Act
Species at Risk Act
Soil Conservation Act

How big are Managed Forest properties?

Managed Forest properties range in size from 3.5 hectares to 166,000 hectares

Fish Protection Act
Private Managed Forest Land Regulation
Wildlife Act
Species at Risk Act
Soil Conservation Act

How many Managed Forest properties are there in BC?

There are over 280 managed forest properties in BC.

Where are Managed Forest properties in BC?

Approximately 70% are located on the coast and 30% are in the interior of B.C. (primarily the Kootenays and Okanagan)

What do Managed Forest owners provide to communities?

Private forests provide communities with:

Forest resource employment
Tax revenues
Fibre supply
Wildfire mitigation
Pest and invasive species management
Hiking and recreation
Quality water supply
Fish and wildlife habitat

Do Managed Forest owners have to replant in BC?

Section 31 (3) of the Council Regulation requires owners to reforest harvested areas within five years, but a recent audit report found planting is generally completed within one or two years.

How is Managed Forest assessed for property tax purposes?

In the late eighties, a new property class, Class 7, was introduced called Managed Forest Land. Forest land in this class is privately owned and valued on a two part basis, as detailed in section 24 of the Assessment Act.

First, there is a bare land value that incorporates factors like soil quality, accessibility, parcel size and location.

Second, there is an added value for cut timber when it is harvested; for example, timber harvested in the calendar year 2000 will show up as added value on the assessment notice of a forest land property in 2002. For property taxes payable in the summer of 2002, part of the value might come from trees harvested up to two years prior. Prospective purchasers of property classed as forest land are advised to inquire about the possible property tax implications of previous harvesting on the property.

Both the land and harvested timber are valued on the basis of rates prescribed by the assessment commissioner.

Is all private land covered by the Private Managed Forest Land Act?

The Private Managed Forest Land Act covers managed forests in BC. This amounts to just less than half of the private forest land in B.C.

However, the PFLA strongly believes that the government should protect the key public environmental values on all other private lands to the same standards as set out in the Private Managed Forest Land Act. Farmers, ranchers, golf course owners and those with trees on their land should protect the key public environmental values as well.

Incentives are needed to attract unmanaged forest land and other land class owners into the Managed Forest Program to promote protection of key public environmental values and encourage long term forest management.

Do private Managed Forest Land owners managed for biodiversity, cut block size, visual quality considerations or rate of harvest??

The focus of private forest landowners in the Managed Forest Program is on protecting key public environmental values—fish habitat, water quality, soil productivity, critical wildlife habitat and the growing of trees. Social values, such as visual quality and biodiversity, are more appropriately protected on the public lands that make up over 95% of British Columbia. That said, PFLA members and other private landowners often go out of their way to manage their lands with consideration for these social values.

Why should Managed Forest owners get incentives?

Managed forests are already the best managed forest lands in BC. Only about one half of BC’s private forest lands are in the managed forest category under the Assessment Act. Government is looking for a means of encouraging other owners of private lands to enter this category. Incentives are an effective way of achieving this goal.

The key to protecting forest land is to make sure it is profitable to landowners. That is conservation at no cost to the government. Incentives are needed to attract the other million hectares of BC private forest land and thousands of landowners into the Managed Forest Program and into long term forest management; and encourage existing managed forest landowners to maintain and increase their forest investments. If we do that, landowners and the public both win through more long-term jobs, more investment, more government revenue, more fibre.