Commercial recreation property rights and security in British Columbia

In the mid-1990’s the BC government established the Commercial Backcountry Interim Policy, in order to regulate BC’s emerging and rapidly growing commercial recreation (CR) industry. This research identifies the resulting tenure and property rights issues related to the long-term economic development of CR on BC’s Crown lands. Specifically, it identifies weaknesses in BC’s current CR tenure rights and determines ways in which government can improve the strength and security of such rights. To accomplish these goals, the research employs a comparative analysis of tenure and property rights granted to BC’s CR industry relative to those for other Crown land dependent resource industries in BC, as well as CR businesses operating in external jurisdictions. This is followed by a survey and interviews, which assess the impacts of property right security on CR operators. Based on findings emanating from these two investigative phases, policy options for increasing security and certainty are provided.