Ministry of Environment
Environmental Stewardship Division
Best Management Practices for Land Developments
How can developments be designed to reduce the risk from flooding and erosion? What setbacks are appropriate near raptor nests? In order to answer these and many other questions that would normally be part of the referral process, the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks is developing a set of best management practices (BMPs) to assist subdivision approving officers in the review and assessment of development proposals.
A first draft of Environmental Requirements and Best Management Practices for the Review of Land Development Proposals (Version 1, December 1999) is now in use by local governments. Version 2 – February 2000 – is being finalized and will be released soon. The latest version incorporates various edits and clarification as suggested by users.
The Best Management Practices lists the SEI as a key tool is identifying areas with documented sensitive ecosystems, and buffer widths are suggested for the different ecosystem types. The new document refers to the SEI Conservation Manual, now in the final stages of development.
For a copy of the "Best Management Practices for Land Developments" or additional information, please contact Marlene Caskey, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Vancouver Island Regional Office, phone (250) 751-3100, e-mail mcaskey@nanaimo.env.gov.bc.ca
Tips and Tricks
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Environmental Mapping Workshop
There’s a lot of mapping going on around Vancouver Island! This was one conclusion from a one-day workshop on sensitive habitat mapping, held in Nanaimo in November 1999. About 130 participants from all over Vancouver Island heard about a variety of inventory projects – mapping aquatic areas, inter-tidal foreshores, terrestrial mapping (including SEI), watershed mapping, and assessing imperviousness. The purpose was to review, compare and coordinate efforts – to look at what’s worked and what hasn’t in mapping and inventory, to examine the quality of the data and the products, and consider the need for training, certification and integration.
Discussion focused on ways to make sure that inventories – and the resulting decisions – are based on the best available science, and that standards are in place to ensure that the results are seen as valuable and credible. The workshop sponsors – the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Canadian Wildlife Service – plan to host a follow-up workshop in 2000 to discuss these issues further, and look at how the federal and provincial government can best support inventory initiatives.
For further information contact Peter Law, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, (250-751-3229) or Brad Mason, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, (604-666-7015).
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