Land Owner Rights Forest Service Road Right-of-Way Access declared as a Forest Service road. FSRs are used to provide access to provincially managed forests on Crown land. Introduction While most FSRs do not impact private land, there are situations where a road must cross private Providing access to Crown land for property because of geophysical approved logging operations is an restrictions or road design important responsibility of the requirements. When this occurs, Ministry of Forests. Legal forest the ministry establishes a FSR access is provided in accordance right-of-way. with the Forest Act, with consideration being given to long- A right-of-way is a strip of land on term fibre flow, employment, which a FSR exists or will be revenue for the Crown, and constructed to provide access for sustainable management of the approved logging operations. province’s forest resource. The ministry seeks to provide access for timber harvesting via the route that best satisfies Legal Access environmental, regulatory and socio-economic expectations. The process for securing legal access In exploring various rou t e to Crown forest land throu g h al t e r natives, one of the key factors private land right-of-way is guided taken into account is that of land by the Fo r est Act and other fores t ownership. The objective of the management priorities of the mi n i s t r y in this reg a r d is to locate Cr own. Under the Act, regional or Fo r est Service roads so they do not district Forests staff, in consultation conflict with private prop e rt y . with ministry engineering personnel, select the most appropriate rou t e A Forest Service road (FSR) is a road to access Crown timber. There are constructed, modified or maintained two main alternatives for gaining by the Ministry of Forests under legal access: provisions of the Forest Act or is page 2 1.Right-of-way agreements for An agreement for temporary temporary access through access of three years or longer is means of a contractual one of two types. According to the agreement with the land specific situation, an agree m e n t owner. may req u i r e use of only a porti o n of the land. In these situations, a 2.Dedication of right-of-way, su r vey is req u i r ed to identify the which means that the Ministry ar ea to be used and access is of Forests acquires ownership limited to the surveyed area. In of the private land or a portion other situations, the right-of-way thereof. Under section 121 ag r eement allows use of various of the Forest Act, this option pa r ts of the entire prop e r ty and no provides permanent access legal survey is req u i re d . through the Crown’s negotiation for ownership Tem p o r a r y access for less than of the land. th r ee years falls into two categories. One category applies in a situation where there is no Temporary Access: existing road and the volume of timber typically is small. In these instances, a legal survey is not Th e re are diff e rent options req u i r ed and the ministry arra n g e s under contractual right-of-way the agreement with the prop e rt y a g reements, where temporary ow n e r . The other situation applies access is re q u i red and the land is when there is an existing road and retained by the owner. A key a Small Business Forest Enterprise aspect of these alternatives is the Pr ogram (SBFEP) agreement is in length of time for which place. The small scale private sector t e m p o r a ry access is re q u i red. In operator can arrange the situations where the agre e m e n t contractual agreement with the for temporary access is for thre e land owner, using a ministry years or longer, the agre e m e n t contract form. must be re g i s t e red with the Land Title Office. Agreements for less Another alternative for access than three years of access do not involves situations where the land n o rmally re q u i re re g i s t r a t i o n . page 3 is owned and retained by a well-established corporation, with the expectation that corporate ownership will be retained for a long time. The mi n i s t r y can arrange a right-of-way agreement with the owner, with no obligation for a legal survey or registration in the Land Title Offi c e . Temporary Access Alternatives Access for three years or longer 1A 1B legal survey no legal survey right-of-way agreement right-of-way agreement on portion of property over entire property register in Land Title Office register in Land Title Office Access for less than three years 2A 2B (no existing road) (existing road) no legal survey SBFEP agreement right-of-way agreement no registration with Land Title Offi c e 3 Corporate Owner (land retained by corporation) no legal survey long-term right of way agreement no registration with Land Title Office Acquisition investigations will be by Dedication undertaken on the location of the proposed access. When the most appropriate rou t e • The owner is next provided with to access Crown timber cros s e s the results of an engineering private land because no other road location survey. The survey viable alternative exists, the district confirms the road’s location and regional managers may within the property, its authorize right-of-way acquisition proximity to buildings or other to facilitate forest access. improvements and provides some indication of the impact The ministry determines the of the road on the value of the optimal method of securing access property. A legal survey follows, th r ough analysis of many factors which describes the position such as the urgency to gain legal and extent of the proposed access, length of time for which right-of-way in legal terms and access is req u i r ed, volume of timber provides a reference plan for to be accessed, volume of traffic on land title registration purposes. the road, secondary industrial users, potential for non-industrial use, • Next, the reference plan is used funding, costs, legal access by a property negotiator with al t e r natives, licensee agree m e n t s , the Ministry of Forests to justification for the acquisition and estimate the impact of the road the disposition or pref e r ence of the on the value of the property. land owner. Consideration of these This estimate includes the factors may direct ministry offi c i a l s impact of any improvements on to request dedication of legal access. the property, such as buildings or roads, that cannot be successfully removed from the The Steps: right-of-way. This estimate may involve property appraisals or other specialized studies. • After determining that a • The next step occurs when the proposed Forest Service road property negotiator contacts may impact private property, the ministry notifies the property owner that further page 5 the land owner to explain the At the formal request of the acquisition process. At that ow n e r , the matter of time, the owner is provided compensation amount will be with a copy of the ref e r ence plan de t e r mined by the Exprop r i a t i o n and an estimate of Compensation Board. compensation required to offset 3. No agreement reached: the effects of right-of-way If no agreement can be reached acquisition on the utility and regarding dedication of the value of the property. The right-of-way and the owner has the opportunity to compensation level, the ministry seek clarification, ask questions may expropriate or legally take of the negotiator, and can possession of the land in the request an independent right-of-way pursuant to the property appraisal. Expropriation Act. There are three possible outcomes Compensation will be at this point: determined by the Expropriation Compensation 1. Owner agrees to offer:The Board upon the formal request offer letter and reference plan of the owner. are signed by the owner and property negotiator. When the Established in 1988, the plan for the right-of-way is Expropriation Compensation Board deposited in the appropriate Land Title Office, the owner’s is an independent agency with title to the land within the authority under the Expropriation right-of-way is removed or Act to determine the amount of extinguished and compensation compensation for expropriated land is paid to the land owner. and costs to be paid if there is a disagreement on these issues during 2. Owner agrees to dedicate the expropriation. Information about the land, but disputes compensation board and the act can be obtained by level: In this instance, the calling (250) 387-4321 or visiting owner may enter into an the board’s website at agr eement with the ministry that http://www.ecb.gov.bc.ca allows dedication of the right-of- way area, even though there is no agreement on compensation. page 6 Dedication Ministry determination of dedication option Initial contact with land owner Engineering road location survey Legal survey Property negotiator estimates land value Estimate provided to land owner Owner makes decision Accepts offer Agrees to dedication, No agreement, not compensation refer to ECB level and then refer to ECB Frequently Asked comparing the land owner’s entire Questions property with similar properties recently sold on the open market in the area.