Establishment of Wildlife Habitat Areas

The following steps need to be completed during the establishment of a wildlife habitat area (WHA):

1. Site is proposed for designation as WHA. Anyone may propose a WHA by completing a WHA Data Form.
2. Technical Review by MOE regional IWMS designate. Verify for: consistency with Accounts and Measures for Managing Identified Wildlife; verify land status; boundary changes as necessary.
3. Review and comment. MOE regional designate coordinates review and comment of proposed WHA(s) with affected parties (tenure holders, government agencies, First Nations). Request for voluntary establishment of interim protection for candidate WHAs.
4. Preparation of final WHA package (IWMS data coordinator).
5. Review by Provincial WHA Technical Committee.
6. Decision by MOE delegated decision maker whether to designate site as WHA.
7. Notice of decision, impact tracking and warehousing of approved boundaries. All approved WHAs are published in the BC Gazette and a letter of notification sent to applicable parties.
8. For more details on these steps, refer to Procedures for Managing Identified Wildlife Version 2004 PDF (4.30MB).