The Great Bear Rainforest (GBR) land use orders were developed and enacted in 2007 and amended in 2009 after years of collaborative land use planning involving the B.C. government, First Nations, and stakeholders.

The 2016 GBR Land Use Order (GBRO) and the 2017 Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act (GBR Act) established a more complete legal framework for implementation of ecosystem-based management (EBM) in the GBR.

The 2016 GBRO is built upon the principle of continuous improvement with monitoring and periodic reviews required in 2021, 2026 and every ten years. Based on this review, the government-to-government (G2G) technical team is looking for feedback on a package of proposed changes organized around four key themes:

• First Nations: Increased oversight of forest planning and harvest activity by First Nations, and stronger protection and stewardship of Indigenous cultural heritage and use of forest resources.
• Aquatic Habitat: Strengthened requirements for protection of important fisheries watersheds, maintenance of watershed health, and stewardship of fish-bearing rivers and streams and other important aquatic habitats and riparian forests
• Biodiversity: Improvements in the way landscape reserves are being created, enabling First Nations to take a stronger role in their development and expedite the protection of important forest values including rare and at-risk old growth.
• Wildlife: Increased requirements for the protection and stewardship of habitat for regionally important wildlife, particularly in relation to Grizzly bears, Kermode (Spirit) bears and black bears.
  
  

Review the supporting documents:
Proposed amendments to Great Bear Rainforest Land Use Order (2016) PDF (170 KB)
Great Bear Rainforest Order Draft PDF (572 KB)
Great Bear Rainforest Schedules PDF (10 MB)

How to participate

Written Submission: Provide a written submission of your views on the proposed changes to the Great Bear Rainforest Land Use Order following the written submission criteria.

For more information, please visit the Great Bear Rainforest webpage.

Feedback will be accepted until 4pm (PT) on August 8, 2022.

Following public engagement and First Nations government-to-government discussions, a final version of the GBRO will be prepared. Any additional policy documents will also be completed at that time. Once approved, the final package will be available online at: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/crown-land-water/land-use-planning/regions/west-coast/great-bear-rainforest/great-bear-rainforest-legal-direction-agreements