Ecological Restoration Guidlines for British Columbia

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At last, your plans are almost complete and your funding is secured. All your hard work and planning can now pay off. However, there are still practical and logistical considerations that need addressing, and this section attempts to describe the most common of these. You will need to incorporate some of these practical concerns into your restoration plan document, as they will affect your budget and may dictate what is possible on your site.

Implementation Considerations
	Permits and approvals	Ensuring that regulatory agencies and key players approve of your plans.
	Project workforce and supervision	Finding a good project supervisor, and effectively using staff, contractors, and volunteers.
	Safety	Planning for safety.
	Project timing	Choosing the right time of year.
	Tools and materials	Getting the best tools and materials at the right price.
	Implementation monitoring	Ensuring your project goes according to plan
	Celebrating and publicizing your efforts	Making contact with the community and recognizing project workers.
	Project reporting and extension	Writing up your project results and sharing them.

Permits and Approvals

If your group has done its planning homework, this stage should go smoothly. Your key players should be able to direct you to the appropriate agency if your activity needs government approval. It is important to realize that even if your project is on private land, you will need government authorization if you are working around water or are planning a prescribed burn. First Nations should always be contacted, as the land in question may be part of a larger land claim. First Nations contacts are also important for gaining a fuller perspective on the long-term ecological and social interactions of the site (Ritchlin 2001).

Commonly required approvals are those under the Provincial Water Act, where a water license is required to divert water, and a regulatory approval is necessary for making changes to a watercourse. Water Act approvals should be sought from your regional Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management. Similarly, approvals for work in or near streams may be necessary to obtain from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, or the Ministry of Environment, under the Fisheries Act. If you plan to alter a forest or grassland on Crown land, you will need approval from the Ministry of Forests under the Forest Practices Code. Prescribed burning on Crown and private land is regulated for air quality by the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, and by Ministry of Forests for burn planning (see Resources Section on Prescribed Burning).

Please refer back to Table 3 in "Identifying Key Players" for information on which government agencies have jurisdiction over which types of activities. You can also check the blue pages in the telephone book. You may get redirected several times in the permitting process, and permits can sometimes take weeks or months to obtain. Review your plans or conduct site visits with the appropriate agency whenever you can, as this will reduce the number of surprises and will also improve your project. You will want to develop a positive relationship with the regulating body to make the process easier.