Can I cut down trees on my property in BC?

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In a town with a tree protection bylaw, protected trees need the council's permit; outside towns most lots have no tree bylaw, but nest trees, streams and permit areas still limit what you cut. A report names the forest on the lot, the development permit areas and the water near it. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. In a municipality: A council may regulate, prohibit and set requirements for trees by bylaw (Community Charter s. 8 (3) (c)). A tree protection bylaw usually names the trees it protects by species, trunk size or place, requires a permit to cut or damage one, and sets replacement trees, fees or security; the District of Saanich's Tree Protection Bylaw No. 9272 and the City of Surrey's Tree Protection Bylaw No. 16100 are two examples, each with its own sizes and rules. Such a bylaw doesn't apply to land under a tree farm licence or other Forest Act tenure, to managed forest land under the Private Managed Forest Land Act, or to a utility's cutting for its own lines. Where it would stop every use or the density the zoning allows on a lot, it gives way as far as needed, unless the council pays compensation or offers another way to build. Otherwise no compensation is owed for the value a tree bylaw or a refused permit takes away, and an owner can ask the council to reconsider a staff decision (Community Charter ss. 50 to 52). Outside towns: the regional district: A regional district board may designate areas it considers subject to flooding, erosion, land slip or avalanche as tree cutting permit areas, and there regulate or prohibit cutting and require a permit, with a report from a qualified person if the board asks for one (Local Government Act s. 500). That is its only general power over cutting trees, so a rural lot outside such an area has no tree bylaw (our reading). Ask the regional district whether it has designated any. Development permit areas: A development permit area set for the natural environment, fish habitat or a hazard can require trees and other plants to be kept or planted, and one set for wildfire hazard can limit the kind and placement of trees near buildings (Local Government Act s. 491). Where the lot is in one, clearing tied to building usually needs the permit first. A report names the development permit areas over the lot where the council's map is open. Streams, lakes and wetlands: Where the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation applies, clearing for homes or other development within 30 m of a stream that supports fish goes ahead only after a qualified environmental professional's assessment, and the streamside protection area it sets stays undisturbed. Many councils add their own setbacks; see streamside setbacks for where the regulation applies. Nest trees: Under the Wildlife Act, destroying the nest of an eagle, peregrine falcon, gyrfalcon, osprey, heron or burrowing owl is an offence at any time, and any bird's nest while a bird or egg is in it (s. 34). The federal Migratory Birds Regulations, 2022 forbid damaging or disturbing a migratory bird's nest without a permit; an empty nest may be removed, except that a great blue heron's nest needs 24 months' and a pileated woodpecker's 36 months' notice to the Minister first, with the nest unused since (s. 5, Schedule 1). Clearing outside the spring and summer nesting season avoids most active nests (our reading). Farmland (ALR): On ALR land, producing and harvesting timber, and the works that go with clearing land for farming, are farm uses a local government bylaw may not prohibit, except a farming area bylaw (ALR Use Regulation ss. 4, 6, 10). A council can still regulate how they're done. Moving soil or bringing in fill while clearing has the Commission's own rules: see the ALR. Selling the logs: Unscaled timber taken off private land must carry the timber mark registered for that land, and the registrar issues one on application identifying the land; the Minister can exempt timber, on conditions (Forest Act ss. 84, 85). Ask the Ministry of Forests' district office before logs leave the lot. Burning the slash has its own rules: open burning outside a fire department's area follows the Wildfire Act's, and in many towns a bylaw bans it.

Can I cut down trees on my property in BC?

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