British Columbia, December 4, 2025 – Public Land Use Society (PLUS) is calling for immediate transparency and accountability from the Government of B.C. after new analysis casts doubt on the claim that just 19.9 per cent of British Columbia is currently protected through parks and other conservation methods.
As the government seeks to place 30 per cent of BC’s land and water under further protection by 2030 through the “30×30” initiative, findings released by the Association for Mineral Exploration (AMEBC) in a news release show that existing conservation and park protections already put B.C. well beyond that target. This means the 30×30 initiative is already met; the issue is how government defines protection, not whether more land must be closed.
According to AMEBC’s analysis, existing Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECMs) cover up to 36.3 per cent of B.C.’s land base. When overlap with parks and protected areas is removed, the total protected land reaches approximately 47 per cent. These measures include long-standing restrictions that can limit activities such as 4×4 and ATV access, forestry operations and timber harvesting, water infrastructure development, hunting, mineral exploration, soil sampling and other low-impact work. Many of these areas have been functionally protected for years.
“The government stopped updating its official count of conservation areas in 2021, but continues adding new restrictions, effectively expanding the total without keeping track of what already exists.” said Warren Mirko, Executive Director of PLUS. “Nearly half the province is already under some form of conservation measure, and the public deserves to know that before more land is taken out of productive use. Making major land-use decisions in the name of 30×30 without providing British Columbians the basic clarity of what is already protected is disingenuous”
PLUS warns that new conservation decisions, including those tied to major land-use planning initiatives in the northwest, risk significant harm if government does not provide reliable information about the baseline conservation landscape. When land is restricted without transparent standards or clear justification, recreationalists, small operators, rural communities, and individuals who rely on land access feel the consequences first.
PLUS supports a balanced approach that prioritizes openness, protects the public interest, and ensures that conservation measures do not become a backdoor method of removing vast areas of Crown land from public use without democratic oversight.
About PLUS
Public Land Use Society (PLUS) is a provincial non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring decisions about both public and private land in British Columbia are transparent, lawful, and made in the public interest. These decisions shape homes, businesses, and communities across the province. PLUS supports a balanced approach to managing Crown land that safeguards public access, ensures British Columbians have a meaningful say in decisions affecting these lands, and requires that any authority beyond that of the B.C. government has a clear and transparent legal basis under Canadian law.
Learn more at publiclanduse.ca.
Media Contact:
Warren Mirko
Executive Director, Public Land Use Society (PLUS)
[email protected]