IronNoggin
Well-Known Member
The BC government is currently seeking public feedback on proposed improvements to natural resource permitting, with a particular focus on critical wetland topics. This is a rare and timely chance for watershed professionals, environmental advocates, resource managers, and concerned citizens to directly shape policies that will affect water and wetland conservation across British Columbia.
Why Your Voice Matters
Wetlands are among the most valuable ecosystems we have—they filter water, support wildlife, store carbon, and provide resilience against climate change. Yet they remain under pressure from development and changing land use. The proposed changes represent a significant opportunity to strengthen protections while also streamlining permitting processes that can impede meaningful conservation efforts.
Six Critical Topics Seeking Your Feedback
The BC government has opened topic-specific surveys on wetland management and natural resource permitting. We encourage you to engage with the areas most relevant to your expertise and interests:
All surveys are open until 11:45 PM PST on December 12, 2025. You can access them and full topic proposals directly through the govTogetherBC engagement portal: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/engagement/natural-resource-permitting-improvements/
If you prefer to submit detailed feedback or have comments that don't fit the survey format, please send an email to: permittingsolutions@gov.bc.ca
Make Your Impact
Whether you are a watershed professional, land manager, conservationist, researcher, or simply someone who cares about protecting BC's aquatic ecosystems, your input is valuable. Feedback from diverse perspectives helps ensure that policy changes reflect real-world needs and best practices.
The decisions made based on this consultation will influence wetland management in British Columbia for years to come. We encourage you to participate and share this opportunity with colleagues, friends, and organizations in your networks.
Thank you for your commitment to watershed stewardship.
In partnership,
The B.C. Wildlife Federation’s Watershed Team
Why Your Voice Matters
Wetlands are among the most valuable ecosystems we have—they filter water, support wildlife, store carbon, and provide resilience against climate change. Yet they remain under pressure from development and changing land use. The proposed changes represent a significant opportunity to strengthen protections while also streamlining permitting processes that can impede meaningful conservation efforts.
Six Critical Topics Seeking Your Feedback
The BC government has opened topic-specific surveys on wetland management and natural resource permitting. We encourage you to engage with the areas most relevant to your expertise and interests:
- Wetland Identification and Delineation Manual – Help ensure we have clear, science-based standards for determining when wetlands are present and where their boundaries lie. Consistent identification and delineation of wetland boundaries improves fairness across the province while ensuring impacts are properly assessed and mitigated based on accurate data.
- Managing All Wetland Classes – Weigh in on whether all wetland types, including bogs and shallow open waters, should receive consistent regulatory protection under BC’s Water Sustainability Act (WSA). Currently excluded from this legislation, these wetlands lack adequate legal safeguards and face degradation risks. Extending the Act to include all wetland types would ensure comprehensive, consistent protection across the province.
- Applying the Mitigation Hierarchy for Wetlands – Share your thoughts on how to better implement avoid-minimize-restore-offset approaches to protect wetlands from harmful impacts. The policy is currently treated as a best practice but not clearly entrenched in regulations or applied consistently in BC. Standardizing the mitigation framework and making it a requirement through regulation will improve transparency in government decision-making, reduce permitting delays, and lead to better long-term wetland stewardship.
- Strategic Use of Offset Payments to Support Wetland Conservation – Provide input on using compensation measures to fund meaningful wetland restoration and conservation. Strategic offset payments can pool resources to fund restoration in priority watershed areas, delivering broader conservation outcomes than individual project-by-project approaches. This coordinated strategy improves both permitting efficiency and wetland outcomes while supporting sustainable development.
- Wetland Professional Accountability – Help define standards for qualified professionals and assurance requirements for wetland work. This will lead to enhanced accountability and support regulatory confidence.
- Updating Existing Guidance Documents – Comment on clarifying and improving guidance that affects how permits are issued and monitored. Updates to best management practices (BMP’s) will address current gaps in the permitting processes and provide applicants with provincially relevant resources.
All surveys are open until 11:45 PM PST on December 12, 2025. You can access them and full topic proposals directly through the govTogetherBC engagement portal: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/engagement/natural-resource-permitting-improvements/
If you prefer to submit detailed feedback or have comments that don't fit the survey format, please send an email to: permittingsolutions@gov.bc.ca
Make Your Impact
Whether you are a watershed professional, land manager, conservationist, researcher, or simply someone who cares about protecting BC's aquatic ecosystems, your input is valuable. Feedback from diverse perspectives helps ensure that policy changes reflect real-world needs and best practices.
The decisions made based on this consultation will influence wetland management in British Columbia for years to come. We encourage you to participate and share this opportunity with colleagues, friends, and organizations in your networks.
Thank you for your commitment to watershed stewardship.
In partnership,
The B.C. Wildlife Federation’s Watershed Team
