Land Use Objectives Order for Howe Sound and Sea-to-Sky Area
Overview
Dates: May 22 to July 20, 2026
Who: Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship
What: Draft Land Use Objectives Order that implements forest management direction contained within the 2025 Squamish Nation Land Use Planning Agreement (Phase 2)(PDF, 17.5MB) for cultural and environmental values.
Where: Howe Sound and Sea-to-Sky area
Why: To better understand public interests and values as they relate to the forest management direction contained in the draft order. A 60-day public review and comment period is also legally required by the Land Act, Land Use Objectives Regulation.
How: Written submissions by mail or email
Engagement summary
This draft land use objectives order represents an important step in the implementation of the 2025 Squamish Nation Land Use Planning Agreement (Phase 2).
The proposed land use objectives in the order would improve forest stewardship within 33 Siiyamin (cultural) sites and 6 Special Cultural Management Areas by helping to protect Indigenous cultural values and forest biodiversity. In particular, the objectives address stewardship topics such as cultural heritage areas, old forests, mature forests, large cedar trees, riparian and wetland areas, and culturally modified trees.
The legal objectives in this Order would inform future forest practices conducted by forest licensees in accordance with their forest stewardship plans.
The 60-day public review period ran from May 22, 2026 until 4 pm on July 20, 2026 and is now closed. A total of 259 written public review comments were received on the draft Squamish Nation Land Use Objectives Order (PDF, 10.9MB). The B.C. government will now review all the public comments received during the 60-day public review period so they can be considered in the draft Order decision process.
Based on some of the public comments received, the B.C. government would like to provide the following clarifications as additional public information:
The land use objectives in the draft Order would not:
- Transfer any B.C. public lands to First Nations
- Transfer decision-making authority to Squamish Nation
- Prevent the use or maintenance of existing local public trails within any of the Siiyamin (cultural) sites and Special Cultural Management Areas identified in the draft Order
- Apply to other Squamish Nation Areas of Importance (AOIs) that are not included in the draft Order (these other AOIs are for information purposes only)
The land use objectives in the draft Order would:
- Prevent commercial forest harvesting practices by forest licensees in the identified Siiyamin (cultural) sites and within specific locations in Special Cultural Management Areas
- Improve forest stewardship within the identified Siiyamin (cultural) sites and Special Cultural Management Areas by helping to protect Indigenous cultural values and forest biodiversity (cultural heritage areas, old forests, mature forests, large cedar trees, riparian and wetland areas, and culturally modified trees)
Thank you for your interest in the draft Squamish Nation Land Use Objectives Order. This draft Order represents an important step in the implementation of the signed 2025 Squamish Nation Land Use Planning Agreement (Phase 2).
Supporting documents
Digital spatial files showing where the proposed land use objectives would apply can be viewed or downloaded:
- KMZ (for Google Earth)
- iMAPBC (layer catalogue: Land Use Plans/Squamish Nation Land Use Planning Agreement (Phase 2))
- Click map image below to enlarge
How your contribution makes a difference
Your feedback can help to improve the content of the draft order and better inform the B.C. government of your interests in the Howe Sound and Sea-to-Sky area. Thank you for your comments on how the proposed land use objectives in the draft order may support, or impact, your values and interests in the area.
The Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship (or delegate) must consider any written comments received within the 60-day review period before making an order decision.
Related engagements
