Environmental Stewardship Division

Welcome to the Environmental Stewardship Division (ESD) of the Ministry of Environment.

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Our mission is to maintain and restore the natural diversity of provincial ecosystems and fish and wildlife species and their habitat; to provide fish and wildlife recreation services and opportunities to British Columbians and visitors, and to provide overall leadership of provincial governmnet strategies and initiatives related to oceans and marine fisheries.

Introduction to the Environmental Stewardship Division (ESD)

The Environmental Stewardship Division works to develop, promote and measure achievement of provincial goals for the conservation of living resources, and provides fish and wildlife recreation services.

Key objectives of the Division include the:

• Management and conservation of the province's biodiversity;
• Protection of species at risk;
• Protection and restoration of British Columbia's watersheds;
• Protection of fish and wildlife species and their habitat;
• Provision of fish and wildlife recreation.

Details on the delivery of these key objectives can be reviewed in the Ministry's Service Plan.

The Division will meet these objectives by using science-based information and knowledge in the development of policy, legislation and regulations, setting clear environmental standards and performance expectations, and ensuring compliance through monitoring, auditing and public reporting. The Division will expand its work with partners to meet division and ministry goals, and will emphasize shared stewardship by encouraging others to accept a greater role in environmental stewardship and facilitating community initiatives to protect and restore local environments. These environmental stewardship actions will be coordinated with related ones in the ministry's other divisions - Parks and Protected Areas,Environmental Protection, Water Stewardship, and Strategic Policy - and with other ministries and jurisdictions.

ESD's headquarters is located in Victoria with the majority of staff located in nine regional offices. The division is comprised of four branches and the Species at Risk Coordination Office:

The Ecosystems Branch is responsible for biodiversity science, standards and policy for the Ministry, and is responsible for the preparation of a biodiversity strategy for British Columbia. Important aspects of this work include the development of more specific strategies on living rivers and species at risk. The Branch develops legislation, regulations, standards and guidelines to protect natural diversity. It also manages the acquisition and application of science-based information and knowledge for aquatic and terrestrial habitats and species. The Branch establishes protocols and performance measures for monitoring and reporting on the state of provincial biodiversity and the effectiveness of activities being used to sustain it.

The Oceans and Marine Fisheries Branch is responsible for the overall leadership of provincial government strategies and initiatives related to ocean resources and marine fisheries, as well as seafood industry development.

The Fish and Wildlife Branch establishes legislation, policies and procedures for managing fishing and hunting activities, and for the allocation of fish and wildlife resources for recreational and commercial use. The Branch manages the provincial fish culture and stocking programs to support recreational fishing and endangered species recovery.

The Division's Regional Operations Branch includes nine regional offices. Regional staff is responsible for the on-the-ground delivery of the division's programs across the province, supported by Victoria headquarters. Regional staff of the ministry's three divisions are co-located in regional offices to encourage teamwork. There are also small area offices in locations across the province to provide enforcement and park operations capacity in local communities.

Species at Risk Coordination Office (SaRCO) – established in the fall of 2004 to provide recommendations on how the province addresses species at risk issues and to coordinate and accelerate recovery planning for three broad-ranging species; Marbled Murrelet, Mountain Caribou, and Northern Spotted Owl. In fall 2008, SaRCO was transferred from the Integrated Land Management Bureau to the MoE in order to transition the coordination role to the MoE. At the MoE, staff will continue to move forward with the role of fully coordinating delivery of Mountain Caribou, Northern Spotted Owl, and Marbled Murrelet recovery initiatives, although SaRCO will no longer exist as a distinct entity.

The MoE is responsible for leading recovery processes for provincially managed species at risk occurring within British Columbia. Recovery planning is typically initiated for those species that have been assessed as being at risk nationally by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). See also Conservation Framework.